Lead Me Back To You
by raichka95
Summary: Derek & Casey have been thru alot & never expected to go thru anything together but eventually realized that they liked the word together,it meant that they could go thru anything & would be Ok as long as they were together.But 8 years later they run into eachother, both very single.Will the past be too painful to handle or will they realize that together is where they belong?
1. Chapter 1: First Day

**Authors Note: Hey everyone! So this is my first ever Life With Derek Fanfic, and also my very first fanfic period. So I'm still learning the hang of this, so bear with me! Here's the first chapter of my first story. The beginning may be a bit slow and boring but it gets better I promise! The summary of this story is also not as great as the whole story will be, I promise! Please review! Good or bad, ill take any suggestions(:**

 **P.S. The italics are thoughts and/flashbacks**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

* * *

People _always make plans. We make plans for our day, our careers, and our future. We plan things out our entire lives, but we never plan on anything to happen outside of our plans. So how do we react when the plan we had laid out in front of our eyes, doesn't play out at all how we planned? We get confused, frustrated, sad, lonely, and desperate. And why do we get like that? Because, we are the prisoners in our own autobiography novel, where the author changes your story, your plans, for something we never planned to be written out in our timeline. And it throws us off our game because we believe that the main way to get through life is to follow a plan. We never stop to ask ourselves if the plan was ours, or if it was edited by someone else, like it would be in an autobiography. We never expect our plans to take a detour or an entirely other path. The thing is, people expect to get hurt in life, and they expect things to not work out and to go wrong, but we never plan on any of it. We never write it out in our daily planner to get our hearts ripped out that week, or to lose ourselves so much that we become lost and unsure about our purpose in life. So what is the point of planning out our lives, if our expectations of our plans turn out to be our reality?_

"One more?" The bartender asked Casey before he poured her another drink.

"Make it two." She says as she chugs down the first one he had given her.

 _Pain. Such an easy thing to get and a hard thing to wash away. We don't plan on getting hurt, yet we get hurt so much that after a while pain becomes a part of us. We get used to it so much that even when we don't get hurt, we still expect to, as if it's something that's supposed to happen. We try so hard to be okay, at least I do, but sometimes it hits me out of nowhere, all of a sudden this overwhelming sadness takes over me. And I get discouraged and upset and I feel hopeless, sad, and hurt, and once again I feel numb to the world. And that numbness is what got me to this bar tonight._

She chugs down her second drink before waving down the bartender for another one.

 ****** Flashback ******

 _"_ _This is all your fault! You took our son away from us! And our grandbabies! It should have been you!"_

 _"_ _Mrs. Conners please! I am just as hurt and alone as you are!" Casey cried out._

 _"_ _Don't you even dare compare yourself to me. Get the hell out of my house! You're a murderer!"_

 ****** end ******

 _They say there is a reason, and that time will heal. But neither time nor reason changes the way that I feel. No one knows the heartache that lies behind my smile, or how many times I have broken down and cried. No one knows the reason why I'm sitting here drinking my night away. No one knows, and no one cares, and frankly, neither do I._

"Hey Joe! Another tequila please" Casey asked the bartender.

"Casey. It's 10 o'clock… you asked me to cut you off at 10." Joe explained.

"Screw it. I need to drink, so keep em' coming. I'll just call a cab." Casey said as she chugged down another drink.

 _Life sucks. People say it gets better, but what if you've already had better, and now it's too late to get it again?_

"Bad night?" Joe asked her as he watched her chug down another drink.

"Bad life" I replied.

"I know the feeling. It gets better though." He said, and I rolled my eyes in reply. "Sometimes though, I wish I could pick my favorite moment or memory in my past, and go back to it and just stay there. You know, relive the moment?" Joe continued.

"Yeah, that would actually be nice." Casey said, as she started thinking back to a time she wished she could relive

 ******Flashback ******

 _"_ _Derek! Put me down now or I swear I'll kick your ass!" Casey squealed as Derek threw her over his shoulder._

 _"_ _I'd like to see you try princess" He replied with a laugh as Casey struggled to get down, right before Derek tripped and fell to the ground, taking Casey down with him. They lay there in the living room floor, bodies tangled up together, as they looked into each other's eyes._

 _"_ _I hate you." Casey said with a playful smile._

 _"_ _Shut up, you love me." Derek replied with a smirk._

 _"_ _In your dreams Venturi." Casey replied as she rolled her eyes. Derek didn't reply right away, he just kept looking at her with a soft smile. "What?" She asked as she felt a blush creep into her cheeks._

 _"_ _I love you Casey." Derek said with all seriousness._

 _"_ _You l-love….but- well I- and you- we cant-" Casey rambled on before Derek cut her off._

 _"_ _Casey. Just shut up and let me kiss you." He said with a smile before leaning in to kiss her, and she let him._

 ****** end ******

"Casey? Is that you?" A voice said, interrupting her trip down memory lane. Casey's breath hitched as she recognized the voice. It may have been eight years, but it was definitely a voice she could never forget. _It can't be…He's all the way in…_ Casey turns around in her stool slowly, grabbing on to the table for support as she gets dizzy and starts to lose balance. "Derek" She replies as she looked up at him. _It can't be him, he's just a memory. I'm drunk and probably just seeing things._

"Long time no see, Klutzilla, or should I say Drunkzilla?" Derek replied with his infamous smirk.

 _No way… it really is him. God why can't I just say something? And why is my heart beating so fast?!_ Casey sat there frozen for a moment before jumping up and throwing her arms around him. "I'm not drunk, you're just blurry." She whispered into his neck.

Derek was taken aback by the hug, but he laughed as he hugged her back. _I can't believe I was just thinking about her, and five seconds later here she is in my arms, holding on to me the same way she held on to me the last time I saw her._

 ******Flashback ******

 _"_ _I love you, Princess"_

 _"_ _I love you too, D." Casey replied with a smile as he pulled her closer into his arms._

 _"_ _I'm sorry. That I left you on your own, that I wasn't there for you when you needed me the most." He said sadly._

 _"_ _You're here now, and you're not going anywhere. That's all that matters." Casey said with a smile as she kissed him._

 ****** end******

"I can't believe it's really you." Casey said after she finally let go of him.

Derek sat down next to her. "Its really me, Princess."

Casey looked back down at her drink on the table as he used her favorite nickname from him. _He hasn't called me Princess in so long. Not since the last time I saw him… not since he left…_

Derek watched her as she sat there quietly staring at her drink, before she picked it up and chugged it down. He knew Casey better than anyone else, so he knew what she was thinking. But it has been eight years since he has seen her, so he had no idea what she would be doing at a bar, unless he was the reason behind it, which he knew couldn't be possible since it has been eight years and she had moved on.

"I gotta say I'm surprised to see you here. For one, I thought you lived in New York, and two, you always hated alcohol, and you never go to bars." He said raising his eyebrow questioningly.

"I did live in New York, I moved back to Toronto because I got a job offer here. And yes, I did always hate alcohol. But a lot has changed." Casey replied as she gulped down a shot of tequila.

Derek watched her with an amused expression on his face. _No kidding._ He thought.

"And stop talking to me as if we never stopped talking. It's been eight years Derek. Life doesn't go on pause when you're not around, it moves on. You can't just pick up with me where we left off as if it's been only yesterday and not eight years." Casey snapped, as she took another shot.

Derek was taken aback, but at the same time tried to hold in a smile. _Typical Casey, first hugging me as if no time has passed, and then yelling at me for acting as if no time has passed._ "Casey…I wasn't trying to… I never meant to… Look, like you said, it's been eight years, a lot has changed. But we're Casey and Derek. We're not like other people, we actually **do** pick up where we left off as if no time has passed. That's how it's always been between us. It's easier that way." Derek explained as he took her hand in his.

 _How is it that so much time has passed and yet every time I see him, the feelings come back as if the life I had without him never existed? "_ It's not easier that way; it's just our hearts natural reaction towards each other." Casey said as she looked down at their entwined hands.

"Maybe our hearts are trying to tell us something?" Derek said with a small smile.

"Yeah, that we have issues. I need another drink." Casey said as she waved the bartender down, asking him for a drink.

"Make it two." Derek told the bartender. _My heads already spinning, might as well make it spin some more._

* * *

 _God why does my head hurt so much_? Casey groaned as she sat up in bed. _Where the hell am I?_ She looked around the room before realizing she was in her own house. _Oh right, I moved_. "Morning princess" Casey jumped as a voice from beside her startled her. She looked down to see Derek in bed with her, under the sheets, naked. _Oh God...not again... I slept with Derek!_

"You don't remember last night, do you?" Derek questioned with a frown as he saw the look on her face.

"Ofcourse I do... most of it. I just. You. I. And. Well. I - I have to go to work. First day, don't wanna be late." Casey said as she got up and wrapped the bed sheets around her naked body.

"Yeah sure. So you live here now huh?" Derek asked as he looked around her room.

"Listen Derek we don't have to do this, you know... make awkward small talk after waking up in bed together... I'm gonna go shower. And when I get out, you won't be here, okay?" Casey smiled sweetly before running into the shower.

"Casey wait!" Derek started to say, but Casey was already in the bathroom with the shower running.

* * *

"Name?" The lady at the desk asked without even glancing up at Casey.

"McDonald, Casey McDonald. I'm the new editorial assistant." Casey replied cheerfully as she glanced at the young woman's name tag. Jessica.

"You're late. Mr. V doesn't like it when his employees are late, especially not his assistants. 3rd floor, room 24. Orientation has already started." Jessica said as she handed Casey her name card.

Casey gave her an apologetic smile as she took her card and headed towards the elevator. She looked at her watch as she waited to get to the 3rd floor. _8:45? I'm not late I'm early! Phew._ The elevator doors opened and Casey walked out heading towards room 24. She walked in and saw a few other people already in there, some getting coffee and some just chatting with each other.

"Well good morning gorgeous! I'm Trevor, editorial Manager; you must be the new assistant."

Casey looked up to see a rather handsome gentleman introducing himself. "Yes, Casey. How'd you know? That I'm the new assistant?" Casey questioned.

"Your name card" Trevor said as he nodded towards the name card around her neck that read Casey McDonald, Editorial Assistant.

"Oh right! So when does the orientation start?" Casey asked as she played with her name card.

"Right now." Trevor replied with a wink as he headed to the front of the room. "Alright people, now that everyone is here I'll go ahead and start with the introductions." Trevor began as he sent a smile towards Casey.

 _Was he waiting on me just to start? I guess I really am late..._ Casey thought as she took a seat at the table.

"I'm Trevor Crooks, I'm your editorial manager. Now due to our recent upgrade to our department we have several new employees. Some of you are transfers and others are newbies, so welcome to all of you. You each should already know your job titles and responsibilities. On the table are binders each one with your name on it. Find your name and that binder will be your guide throughout this job. If you have any questions about your jobs as you begin working here you will report to me. Actually you will report to me about everything throughout this entire job. Every Friday the editorial crew will meet up here in room 24 to discuss our progress. As far as-" Trevor got interrupted by his phone ringing. "Just a second. Yes, Crooks speaking. Correct. Yes sir. Right away." Trevor said into his phone before shutting it and walking over to the desk to grab his binder. He looked over at one of the young men sitting at the table and motioned for him to get up. "Malone, come with me. We gotta go meet with Reyes. McDonald, Mr. V will be waiting for you in the conference room." Trevor said before walking out of the room.

Casey looked down at her binder as she opened it trying to see if there was a map in there to help her find the conference room. "It's on the 5th floor, room 16. Mr. V is the editorial president. He's pretty chill and normally late himself, so don't worry you'll be fine." Casey looked up to see a young redhead speaking to her.

"Do I look as lost as I feel?" Casey asked with a chuckle.

"Just a little. I'm Becky." The redhead said with a smile as she stretched out her hand for a handshake.

"Casey. And thanks. I better get going." Casey gave her a warm smile before heading towards the conference room. _Now which one is Mr. V? I wonder what it's short for...Victor? Or maybe it's a last name, maybe it's..._ "Venturi! Here are the files you asked for." A young man yelled, breaking Casey's thoughts as she looked up to see Derek being handed the file. _No. No way...Derek? Is my new boss? He's Mr.V?_ Casey stood there frozen trying to process this. As soon as Derek looked up and made eye contact with her, she bolted out of the room.

* * *

"Casey, Casey wait!" Derek yelled as he caught up to her, grabbing her arm gently to stop her.

"Mr. Venturi, I was told to report to you." Casey said coldly.

"Mr. Venturi? Come on Case we've been on a first name basis since we were 15. I think we're still close enough to be on a first name basis, especially considering how close we were last night." Derek said with a smirk that made Casey gape in return.

"How could you not tell me that you're my new boss? You knew and you still slept with me!" Casey yelled at him as she hit him in the chest lightly.

"Relax! Look I knew I was getting a new assistant but I didn't know it was going to be you, honestly! And like I said, after last night you can definitely call me Derek." He replied with another smirk.

"Der-Mr. Venturi, what happened last night was a onetime thing and-" Casey started before she was interrupted by Derek.

"Well technically for it to be a onetime thing it would have had to happen only once... but since that wasn't our first and only time..." Derek trailed off as Casey glared at him.

 _How dare he bring that up right now?! First he takes away my virginity and gets me pregnant, then he shows up after two years getting me to fall for him all over again before disappearing with nothing more than a cold goodbye, and now this time he turns out to be my new boss! Every time I sleep with him something bad always happens!_ "What happened last night was a mistake. We were drunk, we hooked up, and that's it. Now you're my boss and it's my first day here and I really just want to work." Casey said sternly.

"Case, a mistake happens once, maybe twice, but not three times. Although I'd say that even our first time wasn't a mistake." Derek said, this time with a serious face.

 _It was a mistake...the first few times and now. God he has no idea the hell he put me through each time I got involved with him... and yet somehow I feel like this time won't be any different._ Casey thought as she stood there without saying another word.

Casey took a deep breath before saying "Derek, last night didn't happen. I just moved back from New York to get a fresh start and start my new job. I went to a bar and had a few drinks, and then I went home. By **myself**. Last night did **not** happen okay?"

"Actually it **did** happen, and I have the hickies and scratches to prove it." Derek said with a smirk that made Casey both melt and explode at the same.

"Mr. Ven- oh! My apologies, I didn't mean to interrupt." Casey was about to snap back at him before she was interrupted by a young girl who looked like an intern and stood there looking down timidly.

"No worries, I was just showing my new assistant around, filling her in on what we do here." Derek replied to the girl with a smile, but still continuing to look at Casey as he spoke.

"Ofcourse! Well um, Mr. Crooks wanted to know what you decided as far as our Magazine section." The young girl asked.

"Oh the magazine, right. Alright I'm coming. We'll continue this later, Ms. McDonald." Derek said with a smirk before heading out of the hallway, followed by the young girl.

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 **So there it was, it's not great I know but wait til you read the next chapters! Like I said, its gonna get better! Please Review:)**

 **-Raichka**


	2. Chapter 2: Roses

**Chapter 2**

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Casey had managed to finish the remaining of her first day at work avoiding Derek. Being that it was her first day and she was still new she got away with asking each one of her coworkers and employers several questions, just to keep herself busy and away from Derek. It was now 6 o'clock and Casey was finally back in the comfort of her new home. She went to the fridge and picked up some left over pizza. As she was warming it up, she heard the doorbell ring.

 _Who the heck could that be? I don't know anybody here yet._ Casey thought, as she headed towards the door to see who it was. "Derek?" She said after opening the door to see Derek standing there with a bouquet of red roses, her favorite. "What are you doing here?" She asked, still not letting him in. _And why red roses? He knows they are my weakness._

"Roses had always been the way to go whenever you would get mad at me, it's one of your weaknesses. And I brought sushi." Derek replied with a smile before gently pushing his was past Casey and going inside.

After a moment she followed Derek into the kitchen, where he had already put her roses into a vase for her, and had placed the sushi and a bottle of wine that she didn't know he had brought, onto her dinner table. She looked at Derek who stood there smiling at her, then she walked up to the table and picked up the vase with the red roses. She smiled as she took in their scent, and closed her eyes as she remembered the first time Derek had given her roses. It had been after her and Sam had broken up.

 ******Flashback******

 _"_ _Casey come on don't you think its time you stopped moping already. You broke up, big deal, its not the first or last time." Derek had said._

 _"_ _This time, it is the last time." Casey said quietly before she left the kitchen and headed towards her room. As she went inside she found on her bed a bouquet of red and pink roses, and next to them a note that said '_ _ **Smell the roses and stop moping, I miss fighting with you. Like you said, nothing is more comforting than the smell of roses. Oh and chocolate. –D'.**_ _She smiled as she read the note then took in the scent of the beautiful roses. As she headed downstairs to get a vase for her roses, she remembered that the only time she has told anyone that the smell of roses is comforting to her, was in her diary. Her diary, that no one is supposed to read. "De-rek!"_

 ******end******

"Well if you're done admiring your roses, care to join me? I'm starving." Derek said, interrupting her thoughts as he sat down at the dinner table.

Casey pulled out a chair and sat down next to Derek. "You know, this isn't the kind of thing that you do after a one night stand mistake, which did **not** happen." She stated as she reached for the sushi and started to eat.

"How can something be a mistake, if it didn't happen?" Derek replied with a smirk. Casey ignored him and continued eating. Derek sighed as he reached over and placed his hand on hers. "Casey it **did** happen. And I'm sorry that it happened the way that it did, but I am not sorry that it happened."

"Fine, it happened. But it was a mistake and it should have never happened. I'm only eating because I'm hungry and sushi is much better than last nights pizza. But after this you are leaving, and you're gonna continue your life as if last night didn't happen. And I'll see you tomorrow at work, as your **assistant**." Casey said sternly and removed her hand from his as she avoided eye contact by pretending to be interested in her sushi that she no longer had an appetite for.

"Gosh Casey, you make it sound like it was a horrible one night stand with a stranger. Which this was neither." Derek replied.

"Derek, it was one night. We were drunk, we hooked up, that's it." Casey said as she started to play with the chopsticks in her hand.

"Actually, **you** were drunk. I was just a little buzzed but definitely sober enough to remember last night, which was amazing might I add." Derek replied with a smirk.

"So you took advantage of my drunken stage? That is so typical of you Derek! You always trick me into doing things I don't want to do!" Casey yelled at him.

"Trick you?! Casey, if I thought you didn't want to hook up with me I would have **never** laid a hand on you last night, or ever. But we both know that you have always wanted me just as much as I want you." Derek yelled back frustrated.

"It's been eight years Derek. We need to stop being Casey and Derek and admit that time really has passed and things have changed. We can't pick up as if nothing happened." Casey whispered as she looked up at the roses in front of her on the table.

"Why not? What if I don't want to stop being Casey and Derek? And there is absolutely nothing wrong with picking up where we left off. Let's just hit play from where we hit pause." Derek said gently as he rested his hand on hers again.

"You want to unpause? Derek do you even remember where we paused? Because I do. I remember waking up one morning to find you packing up your things to leave. I remember you telling me that your hockey career was more important than me and that it was an opportunity you would never pass up, that hockey was more important to you than some girl that you impregnated. I remember you saying that you didn't love me enough to choose me over your career! And I never asked you to choose me over hockey, I just wanted you to choose me **too**!" By now Casey was standing up hovering over Derek as her tears began to pour down her face.

Derek sat there in a stunned silence. He knew he had hurt Casey by walking away eight years ago, but he thought she had moved on. He had no idea that he had left her so broken. "Casey…" He started to say as he stood up and tried to bring her in for a hug.

"Don't." She said pulling away not letting him hug her. "I hate you Derek. I hate you because you have hurt me so many times and yet every time I see you I just want to run back into your arms and forgive you and start over, and that is exactly what I always do, only to get hurt by you again. And I am **so** tired of having to pick myself back up when you leave again after getting me to fall for you all over again! You can't just disappear from my life and then pop back in and expect everything to go back to normal. You have no idea the hell I've been through after you left, you have no idea what my life was like or what I did because you left me. You never contacted me you never called to see how I was doing you vanished from my life completely and I had to live with that, and I did Derek. I was happy without you for once in my life, I had problems in my life that had nothing to do with you and it felt great! I don't need you back in my life to remind me of our past!" Casey yelled again as her tears continued to fall.

"Casey, I am **so** sorry. And I know that's not enough but that's where I'm gonna start. I never meant to hurt you. Walking away from you was the biggest mistake of my life. I tried to convince myself that I did the right thing leaving you, that we were better off without each other, but I could never stop thinking about you. And seeing you again last night made me realize how miserable my life has been without you. I'm sorry that I left you on your own and I'm sorry that I haven't been a part of your life the past eight years, it's what I regret the most." Derek said sincerely.

Casey looked up at him slowly and just held his gaze for a moment before saying "Just tell me why. Why did you leave me for a career that you had always told me was second place after me? Why didn't you ask me to come with you?"

"Because I was scared, and stupid. Stupid for not fighting hard enough to keep you." Derek answered, as he lifted Casey's chin gently to get her to look at him again.

"Fighting to keep me? Derek you had me. There was nothing standing in our way except for your career, your career which I would have stood behind you on one hundred percent. You're saying you didn't fight hard enough for me, Derek you didn't fight for me at all. You just chose hockey and left. Was hockey really the reason you left me? Or was it just a cover up of the real reason? Because Derek I've known you since we were fifteen and choosing a career over the love of your life is not something Derek would do, at least not the Derek that I fell in love with." Casey questioned him, her tears now dried up on her cheeks and her voice calmer.

"No, hockey was not the main reason that I left you." Derek replied as he let go of her chin and looked down at the ground.

"Then what was? Please tell me because I am dying to know what could have possibly made you leave me like that. What could have been so important that you could just disappear from my life like that. You were my best friend Derek above everything, and that day when you walked out I lost my best friend. So tell me, why did you leave?" Casey said her voice starting to get louder.

"I can't. I can't tell you Casey, I'm sorry. I want to tell you, I want to start over and take back what I did. I wish I never left you but I did and for that I am sorry but I can't tell you why" Derek replied, unable to look her in the eye.

"Leave. Please just go." Casey whispered as she looked down, just as Derek looked back up.

He walked over to the couch, grabbed his jacket and headed towards the front door. He opened the door and without turning around said "I really am sorry Princess." And with that, he closed the door and left.

* * *

 **Authors note: Okay so here is chapter 2! Tell me what you guys think(: Sorry guys this chapter is very short! The next ones will make up for it i promise!**

 **P.S. I revised this chapter just a bit( added in a few extra sentences, nothing major)**

 **-Raichka**


	3. Chapter 3: Complicated

**Authors Note: Thank you all for the reviews and encouragement!**

 **P.S. I went back and revised chapter 2, just added in a few extra sentences nothing major. So if you'd like please go back and reread!**

 **The first two chapters were set 8 years into the future after Derek and Casey's "fallout" so to speak. Now the next few chapters are going to start from 12 years ago during their senior year of highschool, back to when it all began, explaining everything that eventually led to the tension that is currently going on between Derek and Casey right now.**

 ***12 years ago-senior year of highschool***

* * *

 **Chapter 3:**

* * *

"Der-ek!" Casey's scream echoed through the house as she stormed out of the bathroom in her robe.

"Case-y!" Derek mocked jokingly as Casey made it half way down the stairs. He looked up a few seconds later to see Casey hovering over him with her hands crossed over her chest. Derek didn't even try to hold in his laugh as he saw Casey. "Case I didn't realize the clown convention was in town." He said with a smirk.

"Derek my hair is purple! Purple! And I have my dance auditions tomorrow! How am I going to show my face at the auditions looking like this?!" Casey exclaimed getting furious.

"Relax Case it will wash out in a few days." Derek said with an eye roll as he tried to look back at the TV.

"A few days?! Did you not hear me when I said my audition is **tomorrow**?! Derek this is serious you know how important this audition is to me!" Casey was fuming.

"Yes I do and you know how important my TV time is and right now you are interrupting it." Derek replied calmly as he grabbed the remote to turn up the volume.

"You are unbelievable Derek! Pranking me is one thing but messing with my future, my dreams? That is low even for you!" Casey yelled before storming back upstairs.

Derek let out a sigh as he leaned back into his recliner. He felt uneasy in his stomach as he realized that he may have crossed the line this time. _Damn it Venturi you are not supposed to be feeling guilty! It was just a stupid prank… a stupid prank to get her to stay..._ Derek thought with a sigh as he focused his attention back to the TV.

 _Stupid jerk! How could he do this to me? Just when I begin to feel like we are starting to bond again he turns around and pulls a stupid prank like this?_ Casey thought to herself as she stood in the shower furiously trying to wash out the purple dye in her hair. After what seemed like hours Casey finally gave up on washing her hair and stepped out of the shower. _Seriously? All of that scrubbing and not even a shade lighter?_ Casey let out a frustrated sigh as she examined her hair in the mirror. _There must be something I can do to hide this disaster tomorrow. I can't audition like this!_ Casey clipped her damp hair up then tightened the towel around her body before yanking the bathroom door open and quickly heading towards her room, only to run right into Derek's bare chest. "Oomph! Der—" Her breath caught as she stared at her hands which were resting on his naked chest. Casey slowly looked up to see Derek looking down at her and gasped as she felt his hand brush against her back, the hand that was wrapped around her waist. _Come on Casey say something,_ _ **do**_ _something! Yell, push him off, smack him, kiss him… anything… just do something!_ Casey lectured herself mentally as she tried to keep her breathing even. "I have to pee." Casey blurted out before quickly running back into the bathroom and slamming the door shut. Casey slid down against the door and let out a frustrated grunt as she banged her head back against the door. _Stupid stupid stupid! I have to pee? Seriously Casey out of all the things you could have said you chose to say that? Heck you would have been better off if you would have just kept your mouth shut! Why is it that Derek always manages to get me to say the last word when I would have been better off staying quiet, but moments like these when I need to say something all words escape my mind. All words except for 'I have to pee.'_ "Ugh!" Casey let out another frustrated sigh as she buried her face into her hands.

Derek chuckled from his room as he heard Casey banging her head against the door. _She's so cute when she gets all flustered up like that, even cuter when it's me who has that affect on her._ Derek thought with a smirk as he lay down on his bed. He let out a sigh as he tried not to think about the way Casey looked in nothing but a towel, or the way his stomach knotted up in reaction to her body pressed firmly against his. _Nope, don't go there Derek. She's a keener and she's your stepsister and you do not have any feelings for her what so ever. Nope, none at all._ Derek continued to have an internal battle with himself about Casey when he heard her yell through the wall from the bathroom.

"Nice try Derek, but after living with you for so long I've managed to find solutions to the dilemmas you put me in. I'm not going down that easy anymore!" Casey yelled at Derek through the wall, finally managing to come up with something to say other than those four stupid words. After Casey's mini freak out finally passed, she stood up and walked up to the mirror to reexamine her hair. She grabbed a brush and started brushing out her damp hair when she heard her mom walk in through the front door with George. Casey looked at a lock of her purple hair and smiled as she came up with a brilliant idea.

* * *

Casey took a deep breath trying to calm her nerves as she sat in the audience watching the others audition while she waited her turn. Casey had already gotten accepted into Juilliard but she still had to get accepted into Julliard's Dance Division. She loved Juilliard and it was her dream but if she didn't get to dance there then there would be no point in attending a university that far away from home. Her family was very proud of her when they found out she got accepted to Juilliard and Casey felt accomplished, but unless she got accepted into their dance program Casey had no interest in going there and for many reasons. One being that Casey preferred the academic style in Queens to Juilliard, not only that but Queens was much closer to home, to her family, to Derek…. Yes she hated Derek, but at the same time she had gotten so used to him over the past few years that Casey couldn't imagine living a life without Derek. Not that she would ever admit that to him of course. Casey sighed as she realized her thoughts were once again occupied by Derek. If only Queens had a dance program, than it would be her first and only choice. Casey let out another sigh as she tried to convince herself that Queens being Derek's first university choice had nothing to do with her wanting to go to Queens. _Stupid Derek, how does he always manage to make everything about him? If he would have never come into my life then Juilliard would have still been my first and only choice, but now that Derek is in my life all of a sudden I'm considering other options and Queens is my second choice? Of course everyone thinks that I chose Queens as my second choice only because Paul told me that I need to have at least one back up university planned, which I agree with. But if it wasn't for Derek then I wouldn't have chosen Queens as my second option, I would have chosen another dance academy… Damn it Casey stop thinking about Derek and focus on your dance career, focus on Juilliard._ "Casey McDonald, you're up next." One of the judges spoke up interrupting her train of thoughts. Casey let out a deep breath as she stood up and took the stage.

* * *

Derek was at home watching hockey with Sam when Casey walked in through the front door. "Hey Casey! Woah your hair." Sam called out surprised as he noticed Casey's hair.

"Hey what happened to the clown look?" Derek joked as he took in the difference in her hair. Casey's hair was still purple but not the same as it was last night. After her mother came home last night Casey remembered that her mom had left some of her black hair dye in Casey's bathroom after dyeing her hair there a few weeks ago. She used her moms black hair dye to dye the top half of her hair, leaving the few bottom inches of the tips of her hair the deep purple dye that Derek had put into her shampoo.

"I made a few adjustments to the clown makeover you gave me. Thanks to you though Derek I now have a better shot at getting into Julliard's dance program!" Casey exclaimed as she took off her jacket and hung it up on the hook.

Derek swallowed hard as he took in Casey's new look. She had on ripped black jeans and a black crop top, her makeup was done light as usual apart from the dark purple lipstick. _Only Casey can make purple hair look so damn hot on her._ Derek thought as he continued to stare.

"You got in?!" Sam asked excitedly.

"Not yet, and I won't find out for another few weeks **but** the judges said they loved my performance. They said it was refreshing and new, and that the punk look that I sported really complimented my routine." Casey explained with a wide grin on her face.

"Punk look?" Derek questioned.

"Yes Derek and actually I owe you a thank you for this look. If you wouldn't have dyed my hair purple I would have never gotten the idea to improvise and turn my disaster into a punk theme routine, one which the judges **loved**. So thanks to you I now have an even greater chance of getting into Julliard's' dance program." Casey replied with a proud smile, knowing very well that she had won this argument and was proud of herself for beating Derek at his own game. _Score for Casey._ Casey thought to herself with a smirk. Not only had she managed to use Derek's prank for her own benefit, but she had also managed to leave him speechless. Casey looked down at her outfit she had put together for her audition as she smoothed down her shirt. She looked back up in time to see Derek quickly looking away from her and smiled knowing that her outfit was likely one of the reasons behind his silence.

 _The judges loved her, and it was all thanks to me? Well of course they loved her they would be stupid not to, Casey is an amazing person and she's an incredible dancer. They would have loved her even without her punk look._ Derek thought to himself with a small smile on his face that no one seemed to notice.

"Man D your pranks are getting lame lately, you try to knock Casey down and every time she just picks herself back up." Sam teased Derek, interrupting his thoughts.

 _That's what I love about her._ Derek thought to himself then froze as he realized what he had just admitted to himself. Before he could convince himself that it wasn't true and that it was just Casey getting inside his head, Casey spoke up.

"Yeah Derek, better step up your game." Casey said teasingly as she took the bottle of soda he was drinking and took a sip before turning around to walk out of the living room with his drink still in her hand. This managed to snap Derek out of his trance.

"You did **not** just do that. Casey, give it back!" Derek said loudly as Casey squealed and ran up the stairs to her room with Derek right behind her.

"They never change." Sam said to himself as he shook his head before turning his attention back to the TV.

Derek ran into Casey's room just in time to see her chug down his bottle of Pepsi. "Ahh delicious. Oops all gone." Casey said innocently as she threw the empty bottle into the trashcan next to her bed.

"You little… that's it you asked for it!" Derek said as he tackled Casey to her bed and began tickling her. Derek smiled to himself as he heard Casey laugh and plead for him to stop. "What's the magic word?" Derek asked teasingly as he continued to tickle her.

"Derek, almighty handsome Derek, the amazing hockey god and womanizer, there is no one greater than you." Casey said sarcastically in between breaths. "And for your information it was magic words not word, since it was much more than just one word, or more correctly it's actually a magic sentence." Casey pointed out once Derek had finally stopped tickling her then sat up next to him on her bed.

"For your information I am not a womanizer and that was definitely not one of the magic words, but I'll let it slide just this once, keener." Derek said as he nudged her shoulder playfully. Casey rolled her eyes as she nudged him back with her shoulder. They continued to sit there in silence before Derek finally spoke up again. "I'm sorry I tried to mess up your audition."

"Someone pinch me. Did **the** Derek Venturi just apologize to me, his keener sister?" Casey said mockingly.

" **Step** -sister and you just admitted to being a keener, what a dork!" Derek joked back.

Casey rolled her eyes as she adjusted herself on her bed. "Why did you do it? Try to mess up my audition?" Casey asked him softly. She knew Derek loved to prank her and tried to ruin her life on a daily basis, but he would never intentionally try to ruin a chance at her dream, would he? She still remembered that one time when he had helped her out by being her dance partner when her partner left her, and how he had told her that even though he loved ruining her day even her life that ruining her dream is not something he would stoop down to. Yet he just admitted to trying to mess up her audition, so why did he do it?

Derek sat there quietly at first debating whether or not he should tell her the truth, but then decided that he had already done his fare share of being sensitive Derek for the day. "Because messing with your life is just so much fun Casey!" He said instead, as he ruffled Casey's hair before standing up to leave. "Der-ek!" He heard Casey yell as she tossed a pillow at Derek, but missed and hit the door instead since Derek had already closed the door behind him.

* * *

That night Derek lay in bed wide awake as thoughts from earlier in that day flooded his mind. _Only you Derek, only you would make a stupid prank to up the chances of Casey failing her dance audition only for it to backfire on you by it helping her get an even better chance at getting accepted._ _Now I'll lose Casey for sure…_ It's not that Derek didn't want Casey to go to Juilliard; it was her dream after all to get accepted into their dance program. And even though Derek acted like he didn't care about Casey or her dreams, he still cared for her more than a step-brother even should. But the selfish side of Derek didn't want Casey to go to Juilliard because that would mean her leaving him, that would mean they wouldn't go to Queens together like he had hoped and Casey would continue to live her life without him. He kept trying to convince himself that he didn't care and that he couldn't wait to be free of Casey. But every time he was reminded that there was a great chance Casey would no longer be a part of his life anymore, he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach and he still couldn't understand it.

* * *

Casey was in the kitchen doing her homework when she heard the front door open and saw Derek walk in with Sam. "Dude what was up with you at practice today? I mean you did great but your poor hockey stick is no longer a hockey stick, what the heck did it ever do to you?" Casey heard Sam ask Derek as they dropped their hockey gear on the floor by the door before heading over to the couch.

"Ugh Sally is driving me crazy! She offered to throw Marti's **princess** birthday party for her and she volunteered me to help! Without even asking, just like that." Derek explained as he through his hands up into the air for dramatic effect.

"But you love Marti?" Sam said with a questioning look.

"Not you too! That's exactly what Sally said but just like I told her this isn't about my love for Marti this is about my girlfriend putting me into situations and assuming that I'm gonna do whatever she wants just because she told me to. I'm not her damn puppy!" Derek replied loudly.

"Ooh I get it this is about what Ryan said last week isn't it? About Sally having you on a tight leash and wrapped around her finger?" Sam asked.

"No, I mean yes. I don't know all I know is I am not a damn dog that barks just because his girlfriend says so." Derek answered in an annoyed tone.

"But in a way Ryan is right. No you're not her dog but Sally does have you wrapped around her finger, only you never seemed to have a problem with it before so why is it bugging you now?" His friend asked seriously.

Derek stayed silent as he tried to come up with an answer to Sam's question but realized he didn't have one, at least not one that made any sense. Sam was right Derek never minded it before, he liked Sally a lot and he kind of liked that she was always in control and took charge, she reminded him a lot of Casey in that way. And there goes the reason to all of his problems, Casey. Derek would never admit it but the biggest thing that drew him to Sally was that she's a lot like Casey in many ways. And at first he loved it; he loved that he could date someone who challenged him the way Casey did and someone who wasn't off limits to him because of a certain dad who had decided to marry a certain someone's mom. But the longer he dated Sally the more he started to compare her to Casey. Yes the two were a lot alike but there were several things that set them apart, several differences that made Derek compare Sally to Casey. And every time he compared them, Casey always stood out the most. He always liked that Sally was a calmer and leaned back version of Casey, but for some reason lately he started to realize that he actually liked the neurotic and over the top personality that Casey had, it always kept him on his toes. _I hate Casey. I finally found the perfect girlfriend, someone who's just like her and yet nothing like her at all. And Casey has to go and ruin it for me by not getting out of my damn mind!_ Derek thought as he let out an exasperated sigh and threw his head down into his hands. Sam sat there silently and looked at Derek quizzically as he waited for Derek to explain what was running through his head, but before Derek got a chance to say anything they heard Casey's voice coming from the kitchen as she walked out quietly.

"You know Derek there is nothing wrong with a girl having you wrapped around her finger it just means you care enough about her to do anything that makes her happy. You're not annoyed because Sally has you wrapped around her finger, you're annoyed that it's Sally who has you wrapped around her finger. If you were with someone who you loved and wanted to spend the rest of your life with, or if you felt that way about Sally then you wouldn't mind being wrapped around her finger heck you'd wrap yourself around it for her." Casey finished speaking as she continued her walk up the stairs. She stopped halfway and looked over her shoulder as she waited for Derek to make a snide remark about her listening in on his conversation and butting into his business. But instead he surprised her when he answered with, "I didn't know you were down here." Casey gave him a weird look and continued her way up the stairs to her room. "And since when did you become my psychologist?" Derek shot back when Casey had already made it to her bedroom door. Casey rolled her eyes and smiled. _Now that's the Derek response I was looking for._

"Don't shoot me but Casey actually has a point, maybe you're so annoyed by all of this because you're starting to have doubts about your relationship with Sally… Are you?" Sam spoke up after Casey had left.

"Casey is not right she's never right!" Derek replied as he threw his head back against the recliner but he knew that he was wrong, Casey was right, both this time and pretty much every other time.

Sam rolled his eyes and asked again. "You didn't answer my question, are you starting to have doubts about Sally?"

"Maybe, I don't know. God woman are so confusing! They manage to get into your head and occupy every single inch of your mind and you can't do anything about it." He replied as he ran his hands through his hair again.

Sam chuckled as he looked over at the distressed Derek. "Are you talking about Sally, or Casey?"

Derek's head shot up and he looked at Sam with a confused look. "Why would I be talking about Casey?"

"Because she's the only one you manage to talk about every single day and she's the only one who manages to get you so worked up about everything. Even if you make it seem like it's about Sally, somehow everything is always about Casey, isn't it?" Sam said knowingly.

 _How does he know this stuff? And why is everyone all of a sudden trying to be my psychologist and read my mind for me?_ "Nothing is about Casey, she's the only one that thinks everything is about her but it's not and how did this conversation turn from being about my problems with my girlfriend to being about Casey?"

"Maybe because your problems with your girlfriend have something to do with Casey?" Sam questioned.

"Casey has nothing to do with my relationships, of course she doesn't seem to understand that because somehow she always gets herself involved into all of my relationships one way or another."

"And why is that do you think?" Sam asked.

"I don't know cause she's Casey? Anyways can we drop this, this conversation is starting to confuse me. I'm gonna go get a snack." Derek replied as he got up and headed towards the kitchen.

Sam shook his head. _That kid is so hard-headed it's ridiculous._

"Just give it up Sammy, Smerek is in the stage of denial, there's still four more stages to go." Marti's voice piped up beside him on the couch.

"Marti what are you doing up kiddo?" Sam asked.

"I got thirsty. I heard what Casey said and what Derek said, and Derek is just confused because he thinks Sally is controlling him but deep down he knows that he's just making up excuses so that he doesn't have to admit his true feelings for Casey." Marti stated.

"And how do you know about Derek's feelings for Casey and if they're even true?"

"Duh it's obvious, besides Smerek is my brother and I know him better than he knows himself."

Sam chuckled to himself at Marti's response. "So Derek is in denial of his feelings for Casey?" Marti nodded. "So what are the other four stages then?" He asked.

"First there's denial, then there's anger, he'll be angry at himself for having these feelings so he will take it out on everyone else. Then stage three is depression, he will realize that he has feelings for Casey but still won't admit it and instead he will start thinking that he will never be good enough for her and that no one would ever approve of their relationship. Then finally is stage three; acceptance, he will finally admit it to himself and maybe even Casey that he loves her and wants to spend the rest of his life with her. He's still got a long ways to go until the last stage but I know he'll get there."

Sam laughed at the little girls' logic. "You know you're pretty smart for a ten year old."

"I know that but nobody else seems to notice it." Marti replied with a sigh causing Sam to laugh again.

"Smarti what are you doing out of bed?" Derek asked as he came out of the kitchen.

"Hey Smerek! I came down to get some water but Sam asked me for some girl advice so I of course had to stop and give him my advice." Marti explained.

"Is that so?" Derek asked as he looked over at Sam who just shrugged. "Alright kiddo let's get you some water then get you back in bed okay?" Derek said as he picked up Marti and hoisted her on his back.

"Okay Smerek, goodnight Sammy!" Marti replied as Derek headed with her to the kitchen.

"Goodnight Marti!" Sam replied. _Man I love this family._ He thought as he grabbed the remote and turned the TV back on.

* * *

"Morning jerk! You're up early." Casey said as she walked into the kitchen and saw Derek sitting at the island eating his cereal.

"Just got back from an early morning practice, why are you so chipper?" Derek replied with a grunt.

"No reason, I just feel like it's gonna be a good day don't you?" Casey said with a big smile as she started to make herself breakfast.

"It's never a good day when you're around Case." Derek replied with an eye roll.

"Jerk, well don't worry if everything goes as planned today then soon I won't be around as often again." Casey told him with a smile.

"You finally decided to leave the country?!" Derek exclaimed jokingly.

Casey rolled her eyes as she sat down across from Derek to eat her scrambled eggs. "Very funny Derek, if you must know I'm getting back together with Max today."

"What do you mean you're getting back together with Max?" Derek asked as he straightened up in his seat.

"I realized I made a mistake breaking up with him and wasn't fair to him so when I meet up with him after school today I'm going to suggest getting back together."

"And what if he doesn't want to get back together with you?"

"Of course he does I was the one who broke up with him not the other way around and he was really miserable after I dumped him."

 _Miserable? Yeah right._ Derek thought to himself before he spoke up. "Case don't do it it's been two weeks since you two broke up, don't you think if he wanted to get back together with you he would have already suggested it himself?"

Casey looked at Derek searching for the amused look he got when he told her to do something he knew she wouldn't, but it wasn't there. Instead she was met with a very serious Derek. She tried to figure out the reason behind his seriousness but then brushed it off. "No he wouldn't have because Max is too nice and he respects my decision that's why he backed off, but he doesn't know that I realized it was a mistake so that is what I am going to tell him today." Casey replied as she got up to wash her plate.

"Casey if he let you break up with him in the first place that's not called being understanding that's him not trying hard enough to make things work between you two."

The seriousness in Derek's tone sent a chill down her spine. It was similar to the tone he had when he tried to avoid telling Casey that her dad was getting married. She looked up into his brown eyes searching for any hint of sarcasm in there but she couldn't quite read him, instead she shrugged it off with the thought that Derek will always be Derek even if he did have a protective side to him. She never knew how to react to moments like these, when Derek would actually seem like he cared. She only knew how to react to his pranks and insults and to the way he challenged her. The only way she knew how to act in a moment like this was do the opposite of what Derek was asking her, so that is exactly what she did. "I'll see you at school, or maybe not cause I might be talking to Max." She replied stubbornly as she exited the kitchen.

* * *

"So you're gonna talk to him today?" Emily asked Casey as they walked towards their lockers after English class.

"Yeah after school." Casey replied.

"What made you decide this again?"

"I told you I never should have broken up with Max in the first place. I was just confused about myself and it had nothing to do with him. Look I know you think it's too soon but if I wait any longer than Max is definitely going to think I have moved on from him so I need to fix this today." Emily just nodded without a word, making Casey look at her questioningly.

"What's up with you today you're all quiet that's not like you, and come to think of it Derek was unusually quiet this morning too. Can you believe he actually told me not to get back together with Max? As if I'd ever listen to Derek." Casey said with a laugh.

 _This girl always manages to bring Derek into any conversation she ever has, she can't stop talking about him and she doesn't even realize it._ Emily thought to herself with a smile. "Wait Derek told you not to get back together with Max? Do you know why?" She asked after she realized what Casey was saying.

"Something about if Max didn't want me to break up with him he wouldn't have let me, I don't know but whatever I don't care either because Derek's opinion doesn't matter to me." Casey said, trying to convince herself that it was true.

"You and I both know that's not true, even if you'll never admit it to anyone you value Derek's opinion because even though he acts like he doesn't care he still has your best interest at heart. Aren't you even the least bit curious as to why Derek would tell you not to do it? Maybe he thinks Max doesn't want to get back together with you and doesn't want you to make a fool of yourself?"

"Why wouldn't Max want to get back together and how would I be making a fool of myself? Unless he says no to getting back together…Oh no what if he says no! Emily do you think he'll say no?" Casey asked her best friend as she started to freak out. Before Emily got a chance to reply and tell Casey the truth, the bell rang and Casey quickly shut her locker as she exclaimed "Oh no! I can't be late again… Gotta run Ems!"

Emily sighed as she watched Casey run off to class. _This isn't gonna end well…_ Emily thought with a sad sigh. _Crap I'm gonna be late too!_

* * *

That night Derek couldn't figure out why dinner was unusually quiet until he realized it was because Casey's seat was empty. "Where's Casey?"

"In her room she said she wasn't feeling well, something about rotten school lunch." Lizzie answered Derek as she ate her dinner.

 _Rotten school lunch? Casey never eats the school's lunch…_ Derek thought to himself, and then he remembered his conversation with Casey from this morning. _Oh no, Max._ Derek remained uncharacteristically silent for the remainder of dinner until Nora asked why he was so quiet. "Eh Casey's not here to pick on and Ed's not as fun to pick on anymore." He explained as he hurriedly finished his dinner before excusing himself from dinner so that he could go play his new computer game. George rolled his eyes as he sighed but excused him anyway. Once Derek reached the top of the stairs, instead of heading to his room like he had said he was going to, he walked into Casey's room without bothering to knock.

When Derek walked in Casey was lying in bed staring at the ceiling, without even giving him a glance she spoke. "Derek what do you want? I'm sick let me rest."

 _Great it's worse than I thought she's not even trying to argue with me._ "Cut the crap Casey I know you don't eat the school's lunch so you can't be sick from it. You talked to Max today didn't you?" Derek asked as he walked up to her bed, already knowing the answer.

This got Casey's attention and she sat up in her bed. "Derek if you came in here to tell me I told you so then you can leave right now… Wait a minute you knew he was seeing someone else didn't you? Der-ek! Why didn't you tell me before I made a fool of myself!" She yelled at Derek taking her emotions out on him.

"I tried Casey! But you wouldn't listen to me because you are so stubborn! I told you not to ask Max to get back together but of course you're Casey and I'm Derek so you never listen to me. I guess I can't blame you for being so naïve though. And it's not like I'm your protective older brother so you don't expect me to ever look out for you, but despite our hate relationship I am not a horrible person like you think I am so if I see a possibility of your heart getting broken then yes I will try to warn you, and this isn't the first time I have done that but like I said you never listen to me so I don't even know why I still bother trying to protect you when it's no use because you still run out and let your heart get broken!" Derek let out his breath after he was done letting out his frustration. _Man Casey is rubbing off on me now I'm starting to babble too._ Derek stood there by Casey's bed waiting on her comeback but instead he saw her eyes start to water and her lip quiver. _Oh no not tears not again I can't handle tears especially not Casey's tears._

"I'm sorry!" Casey let out a sob as she buried her face into Derek's chest. "You tried to warn me about Max and I didn't listen. It's just that no one ever looks out for me especially not you and I'm not used to people looking out for me I always look out for myself, which in return leaves me to make stupid decisions that keep getting me hurt and I have no one else to blame but myself!" Casey ranted to Derek between muffled sobs, her face still buried in his chest and her arms around his waist.

Derek stood still with surprise at first, this isn't the first time he had seen Casey break down like this but it is the first time that she had ever opened up to him and he had no idea how to react. Stay cool and be her jerk step-brother to her, or risk showing her his soft side by being her friend? Before he could decide he found himself wrapping his arms around her as he sat down on her bed next to her. She snuggled deeper into his chest and continued quietly sobbing into his shirt. Derek wanted to tell her so much right now, to tell her it's okay to let people look out for her even if it's her annoying step-brother, and to tell her that people make mistakes and that she shouldn't blame herself for being the reason she gets hurt because any sane guy who dares to make Casey cry is an idiot. But of course he couldn't tell her that, because she either wouldn't believe him or she'd get more emotional about his kind words that he might end up doing or saying something he'd regret. So instead he stayed quiet and just let her continue crying as he held her.

"It was just two weeks." Casey spoke after a moment once her sobs had finally quieted down. "Only two weeks since I broke up with him and already he was seeing someone else? He told me today that when I had broken up with him he couldn't sit around and wait for me no matter how much he liked me. Except he didn't tell me that the day that I broke up with him, all he said was that he understood why I did what I did and that he would give me time to figure things out, but he lied."

"You may have broken up with him Case but he's an idiot for not fighting to keep you and for giving you false hope." Derek whispered into her hair, causing Casey to lift her head and look up at him.

Casey was surprised at Derek's kind words but she still appreciated them. "He didn't fight for me after I broke up with him because it's exactly what he wanted, for me to break up with him. He told me he met his new girlfriend at his grandmother's lodge at the lake the last time that he was there. It didn't hit me until I got home after school that the last time he went to his grandmothers lodge was over spring break, which was two months ago. I didn't break up with him until six weeks later…" Casey whispered the last sentence as she avoided Derek's gaze. Derek's eyes went wide as he realized what Casey had meant. _That bastard was cheating on Casey and waited for her to dump him instead of having to tell her the truth?_ Derek's hands curled into fists as he realized just how much Casey had been hurt by this scumbag. Casey felt Derek's body tense as she told him about Max and then realized it may have been a bad idea. "Don't do anything stupid D." Casey whispered and Derek looked down at her. "You're right, despite our complicated relationship you do always look out for me. So please don't do anything stupid, he's not worth it."

Derek gave her a small smile before wrapping her tightly in his arms and placing a soft kiss on the top of her head. "You're right Casey he isn't worth it so don't waste your tears on him Princess." He whispered as he gently rubbed her back and held her tightly in his arms while she quietly sobbed into his chest. Derek sat there deep in thought as he held her. "Hey Case?" He spoke up after Casey's sobs quieted down into little sniffles.

"Hmm?"

"Why did you break up with Max in the first place? I mean I'm glad that you did because the guy's a bastard, but you didn't know that yet, you thought that he was your Mr. Perfect, so what made you decide to break up with him to begin with?"

"I was confused." She answered quietly.

"You're always confused Princess." He replied with a chuckle, getting a small smile and an eye roll from Casey. "It's just that even though I don't agree with your dating choices you always put one hundred percent into your relationships. Sometimes it's a good thing and sometimes it's a bad thing, but you never end a relationship unless you have a solid reason or strong belief that it won't work out, so there must have been a reason for your decision to break up with Max."

"There was a reason."

"What was it?"

"More like who." Casey admitted as she tried to avoid looking at Derek.

Derek's heart sped up at the thought that he might have been the reason, but then it quickly dropped when he realized how stupid that was and that there was probably someone else. "Who? You mean there's someone else?" He asked trying to keep his disappointment hidden.

"No, well I thought there was but like I said I was confused. Only I wasn't confused about my feelings for Max I was confused about my feelings for… this other guy. That's why I broke up with Max, because it wasn't fair for me to keep being in a relationship with him when the whole time I was dating him I was thinking about someone else, wishing that he was that someone else." Casey spoke as she looked up at Derek, wishing that she could tell him that he was that someone else and that he was the reason none of her relationships worked out.

"You broke up with Max because you **liked** someone else too and you didn't want to lead Max on, and that jerk instead ends up cheating on you and leading you on? Talk about bad luck Case." Derek joked as he let out a small laugh, but inside he didn't feel like laughing. _Just_ _ **my**_ _luck, I should have known there would be someone else. But wait why do I care? I'm dating Sally and I don't even like Casey, right?_ "So what happened with this other guy? And why did you decide to ask Max to get back together if you have feelings for someone else?" Derek asked, trying not to sound too interested.

"Because I realized I was being stupid. I'd never have a chance with this other guy. Him and I we just aren't meant to be together no matter how much I want it and wish that he would see me the same way that I see him, I know that will never happen. Besides he has a girlfriend and I could never compete with her." Casey replied quietly, and wondered if Derek knew that she was talking about him.

"You like someone who's already dating someone? So that's why you wanted to get back together with Max, because you realized you didn't have a chance with this guy?"

"I know it sounds bad but yeah… Max wasn't my Mr. Perfect he was more like my fall back guy, the guy I thought I had to be with because he was the closest thing to perfect. Don't get me wrong I really liked Max and I thought he was perfect, at least the closest thing to perfect that I could get. Only I realized that he wasn't even close to perfect, but the complete opposite."

"You should never have to settle for something or someone just because you think you can't do better Case because you can." Casey looked up at him again and felt her heart flutter at his kind words. Derek saw the look of appreciation in her eyes and looked away as he continued. "And this other guy, if he chose someone else over you well then he's an idiot if he can't see how lucky he would be to be with a beautiful keener like you."

"Did you just call me beautiful?"

"No I called you a keener."

"A beautiful keener."

"But a keener none the less." He replied with a smirk, not denying his compliment for her.

"I think I just realized that I wasn't being stupid when I broke up with Max for someone else, I was stupid by thinking I made a mistake breaking up with Max." Casey said and Derek smiled. After a few silent minutes Casey spoke up again. "Thanks D, for always looking out for me." Casey said as she hugged him.

"Don't get too used to it." He replied with a smirk, but still hugged her back.

After a while when Casey let go of their hug and Derek made sure that Casey was going to be okay, he stood up and told her goodnight before heading back to his room to get some sleep.

* * *

Casey lay in bed that night with a small smile on her face unable to sleep. Despite the fact that she had just found out that her boyfriend had been cheating on her Casey felt relieved and strangely happy as she lay in bed thinking about one certain guy, and no that guy was not her ex boyfriend, it was Derek. Over the years Derek and Casey's hate relationship had turned more into a love-hate relationship. They hated each other but they always had each other's backs. And Derek always looked out for Casey especially when it came to guys. This isn't the first time that Derek was there for Casey because of a guy, but it was the first time that he hadn't hidden his intentions. Last time when he had outted Scott to her and Casey had thanked him, he tried to deny that he did it for her and instead said that he did it for himself to prove to Scott that Derek himself was nothing like him. But this time Derek had been there for Casey and for the first time he didn't try to hide his consideration. He just held her and let her cry and Casey knew very well that Derek did not do tears especially Casey's tears, but tonight he did and as Casey let herself cry into Derek's chest, every doubt that she ever had about Derek had left and she finally realized the real reason why she broke up with Max in the first place. Because even if she couldn't be with Derek (for various reasons) it was moments like these that meant more to her than any relationship ever did. _Stupid jerk, I hate him and I love him. He drives me crazy almost all the time, but then he has moments like these when he's so thoughtful and sweet to me._ Casey smiled to herself as she replayed tonight's scene in her head. Of course she knew that tomorrow he would go back to torturing her and pretending like tonight never happened, but she didn't even mind because tonight did happen and tonight Derek's actions left Casey with one conclusion. Casey McDonald did not hate Derek Venturi, she did not hate him at all. It was quite the opposite actually, but of course she would never admit that to anyone.

* * *

Just like Casey had assumed, the next day Derek continued to prank her and tease her as if last night never happened, but that is exactly what Casey had wanted and that is what she loved about Derek. Because she knew that him teasing her was his way of showing his affection, his way of getting her mind off of things like Max. Later on that day though he surprised her at school when he texted her during class, something he never does.

 **D: This class is so boring.**

 **C: It's not the class it's the teacher.**

 **D: So true, his name should be Mr. Lame not Mr. Lane.**

Casey rolled her eyes at Derek's last text and smiled to herself as she placed her phone in her lap and tried to pay attention to the lecture. After a few minutes she felt her phone buzz in her lap again.

 **D: How are you feeling today?**

 **C: Better, thanks for last night. Sorry about the water works I know how much you hate them.**

 **D: Yeah next time I'm calling Emily to take over :P Glad you're feeling better though.**

 **C: Thanks (: Why didn't you? I mean why did you stay with me last night instead of calling Emily?**

 **D: Because Emily would have talked your ear off. And I figured you just needed a shoulder to cry on… You owe me a new shirt btw, mines covered in your snot.**

 **C: It's not like it was in any better shape before my tears anyways :P**

Casey wrote her reply just as the bell rang and she quickly got up to gather her things. She looked up to see Derek walk past her and head out of the classroom, but not before turning around and giving her his infamous smirk. Casey was on her way to English, her next class when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Hoping that it was Derek she quickly opened it once she was seated in her next class while her teacher wasn't looking.

 **D: Oh well just keep it. Knowing you you'll wash it and make it smell all girly anyways.**

 **C: You're letting me keep your shirt?**

 **D: Only cause you let it soak in Niagra falls. And besides it's not like you don't already have some of my shirts. I know you sleep in them (;**

 **C: Only because you're shirts are loose and comfy around my body since you're so big, they fit me like a nightgown.**

 **D: Wow Casey I know I'm big but come on invasion of privacy?**

 **Good thing I'm so big then, cause you look good in my t-shirts(;**

Casey felt her face turn red as she read Derek's last text before texting back with a "Der-ek!" causing Derek to chuckle as he sat quietly in the very back of his math class.

* * *

For the first few weeks after the whole situation with Max, Derek stuck around Casey a little more than usual. It's not like she needed him to look after her it was just a force of habit, plus it felt nice to get along with Casey for once. Not that they didn't still argue, they did and almost every day like cats and dogs, but lately their arguing was more gentle and playful and not as harsh as it was before. And ever since their conversation/bonding moment that night Derek and Casey started texting on a weekly basis, they also started hanging out on a weekly basis and by hanging out that meant them "accidentally" going to the same stores together or "accidentally" staying in together to study and instead ending up watching a movie. This went on for over a month until Derek's girlfriend Sally started complaining that he doesn't spend enough time with her. So for the past two weeks Derek and Casey's texts decreased to a minimum (only because he couldn't text her while he was with Sally) and instead of spending his weekends "studying" at home with Casey he began spending the weekends with his girlfriend again. As much as he loved hanging out with his girlfriend though Derek found himself missing hanging out with Casey. He wasn't thinking of her in that way (he would never do that to Sally) but even if he hated to admit it him and Casey had somehow became friends over the past month, and Derek didn't exactly hate it.

* * *

Derek was enjoying a movie night in at home with Sally, and it's not the movie he was enjoying but what they were doing during the movie. They were caught up in a heated make-out session when Sally suddenly pulled away and sat up to look at Derek. He gave her a questioning look and Sally took a deep breath as she prepared herself with what she was about to say.

"Derek… I know we've only been dating for six months but during this time I've come to know you for who you really are. I've realized that deep down behind your whole playboy façade, that you're a really sweet guy Derek Venturi, and I love you."

Derek sat there in a stunned silence not knowing how to respond, and at that exact moment he looked up to find Casey making her way down the stairs. As he watched Casey quietly walk into the kitchen trying not to interrupt his alone time with Sally, he realized that even though he didn't know what to reply with to Sally he definitely knew what he couldn't reply with, and unfortunately it was the reply that he knew Sally was waiting for. He didn't know what to do, lie to her to keep her happy or tell her the truth then run away to Alaska. He decided to go with a typical Derek move. "Right back atcha! Now let's get back to the movie." He said as he slung his arm over her shoulder and turned his body towards the TV.

Sally pulled away from him and looked up at him incredulously. "Right back atcha? Seriously Derek I practically pour my heart out to you and that's all you got?"

"Sally you know I don't do feelings."

"Yeah but I do. We've been together for six months Derek I'm the most serious girlfriend you've ever had, don't you think it's about time we established where this relationship is going?"

"Nope I'm fine with it just the way it is." He replied nonchalantly.

"You might be but I'm not. So unless you can figure out a way to express your feelings towards me, then I think our date tonight is over." Sally replied as she got up and gathered her things.

"Sally wait!" Derek called out as he stood up from the couch. "I… I really like you Sally. Isn't that enough?" He asked sincerely.

"No Derek it isn't, not for me at least." And with that she walked out the door, slamming it behind her.

Derek let out an exasperated sigh as he flopped back down on the couch and ran his hands through his hair as he closed his eyes. His eyes were still closed when he felt the couch sink down when someone sit down on the opposite side of the couch. Derek didn't even need to open his eyes to know that it was Casey; he could tell that it was her when he got a whiff of her strawberry scented perfume.

Casey sat there in silence for a moment before finally speaking up. "Don't you love her Derek?"

"God Casey not you too, I seriously don't need to be having this conversation with you right now." He replied as he leaned forward about to get up and leave, but Casey stopped him by putting a gentle hand on his arm. He looked up at her as he slowly leaned back into the couch.

"Are you okay?" She asked with concern in her eyes.

Derek closed his eyes as he contemplated whether or not he should even be having this discussion with Casey right now, or ever. "Sally is an amazing girl and I care about her a lot. I love Sally, but as a person not as my girlfriend. I want to love her as my girlfriend, but I just can't." He admitted, before slowly opening up his eyes to look into Casey's beautiful blue eyes.

"What's holding you back?" She asked quietly.

 _You, you're holding me back._ Derek thought to himself, but instead he answered with "It's complicated."

"Ah, I see, and Derek Venturi doesn't do complicated. Well I hate to break it to you D but all girls and relationships are complicated in one way or another. You just have to pick one that's worth it; so is she?"

"Is who what?"

"Is Sally worth it?" Casey asked Derek, who just looked away from her instead of answering. "Fine then at least answer me this, are you ready to let Sally walk out of your life? Because if you don't man up and tell her how you feel or don't feel about her then that might be the last time you see her walk out your door, without coming back."

"How am I supposed to tell her how I feel about her when I don't even know myself? I can't tell her what she wants to hear Casey. I don't do I love you's."

"Well then maybe you—" Casey began to say but was interrupted by her mom calling her from the stairs.

"Casey honey could you please put Marti to bed."

"Sure mom." She replied, looking down at Derek as she stood up before heading up the stairs to Marti's room.

* * *

 **Okay so here is chapter 3 finally! Let me know what ya'll think! So in some of the next few chapters you will notice some similar scenes to the ones from the actual show. I'm trying to keep some of the events the same (like who they're dating and when) as long as trying to follow the timeline a little. So if you notice anything from the show I'm not stealing it! It's in there on purpose(:**


	4. Chapter 4: So Contagious

**Authors Note: Thank you guys so much for the comments and encouragement to continue! I honestly was about to give up this story but decided to post one more chapter (chapter 3) and after getting more comments on it I decided to post one more! If ya'll want me to continue this story please keep reading and reviewing! I love this story so far and it's only going to get better but i dont want to keep writing it if no one is going to read it :/ So in this chapter there's finally some Dasey action! Hope y'all enjoy (:**

* * *

 **Chapter 4:**

* * *

"Ouch!" Casey yelped after she got hit in the face with a crumpled up sheet of paper as she walked into Derek's room. "Wow, I don't think I've ever seen you write this much. What's up, writers block?" Casey asked as she looked around the wadded up paper balls and scribbled sheets of papers thrown all around Derek's room.

"Sally." He replied with a grunt as he ripped out another sheet of paper from his notebook, crumpled it up and threw it against the wall. "She finally called me back after ignoring me for a week."

"Oh?" Casey said pretending to look surprised, although she already knew that Sally had called him because Casey had spoken to Sally this morning asking her to give Derek another chance because he's been miserable all week.

"Yeah, she wants me to write her a song to express my feelings towards her and then she wants me to sing it to her at open mic night this weekend." He replied with an eye roll.

"Looks like you're doing great so far." Casey said sarcastically.

"Shut up. You know I don't do feelings so how the heck am I supposed to write a sappy love song describing my feelings towards her?"

"Don't think of it as writing a sappy love song, think of this as your last chance to keep Sally, which it is. So if I were you I'd stop worrying about your rep and start worrying about telling Sally how you feel by writing a song. Just start by writing down the things that you love about her without actually saying that you love her. If you can't tell her that you love her then show her through your song."

Derek sat there thoughtfully as he looked down at the notebook in his hand. He started jotting down things that he liked about Sally. _Smart, beautiful, passionate, kind-hearted, caring, challenges me, ambitious, keeps me in check… Okay why do all of these things sound like I'm describing Casey instead of Sally? Crap these two are more alike then I thought._ Derek dropped his pen onto the notebook and looked up with a sigh. "Where are you going?" He asked as he saw Casey get up to leave. "I need help…" He replied as he looked up at her with desperate eyes.

Casey laughed at how adorable Derek looked then let out a sigh. "Alright I'll help you, but you owe me."

"Deal or better yet you could just write the whole song on your own then give it to me." He said with a smirk.

"Nice try Derek but not happening." She replied back with a roll of her eyes as she snatched the notebook out of his hand to see what he had written so far, which wasn't much except for two worded sentences describing Sally. She flipped a few pages until one page caught her eye; it looked like a completed song. "What's this Derek?" She asked as she started reading the words.

"What?" He asked, but Casey just continued reading. "Derek this is really good when did you write this?" She asked.

Derek looked over her shoulder to see what she was talking about." Oh that, um that's old, just… just something I jotted down a while back. It's nothing." He replied quickly as he snatched the notebook back from her.

"It's not nothing Derek it's really good! Why don't you just finish it up and sing this for Sally?"

"I don't think that's a very good idea."

"Why not? You got anything better?" She asked pointedly and Derek shook his head no. "That's what I thought so just use this it's perfect. You wrote this for Sally right? Now is the perfect time to let her hear it."

Derek just shrugged as he avoided Casey's gaze. _Actually that's something I wrote before I even met Sally…so no I definitely did not write it for Sally, but I guess I can change it up a bit._

"I guess I could edit it a bit and make it work…" Derek finally said.

"That's the spirit! I knew you could do it, here let me see it again." She said and Derek handed her his notebook. She read over it again and Derek watched her as she marked out some words and wrote down new ones. "Here I made a few adjustments with your grammatical errors and added in a few suggestions, the rest I'm pretty sure you can finish yourself." She said with a smile as she stood up again to leave.

Derek picked up his guitar and started strumming a tune along with the lyrics; he looked up just as Casey walked out the door. "Hey Case, thank you."

She looked back over her shoulder and gave him a smile before walking into her room.

* * *

Casey rolled her eyes as she walked past the bathroom and heard Derek throwing up. "Derek man up you've performed in front of an audience before."

"Yeah but never with my own material and I was never the one singing." He replied back as he flushed the toilet and went to the sink to clean himself up. He opened the door and leaned back in surprise when he saw Casey standing right in front of the door. "I can't do this Case I can't go up there and sing my own song in front of hundreds of people. You gotta do it for me!" He pleaded.

Casey rolled her eyes as she replied. "Okay Derek first of all its not hundreds of people it's at Smelly Nelly's so there won't be more than 50 people, second you **can** do this because you're doing this for Sally and if you don't do this then you might lose your last chance with her. And thirdly I am not your mother to hold your hand and spoon feed you so I am not doing anything for you."

"You helped me with the song why can't you help me sing it too? Sally wanted me to write her a song, what difference does it make who sings it? Please Casey I'll let you have the Prince whenever you want for a month!"

Casey cocked her eyebrow up at him. "You're that nervous that you resort to begging and bribing me?" Derek just stood there and nodded. "Alright fine I'll do it I'll song your song for you but only because I have a much better voice than you." She replied with a smirk as she turned around and headed down the stairs.

* * *

Derek paced frantically as he waited backstage to perform. He stopped abruptly and looked up when he heard a laugh, Casey's laugh.

"D you're not even the one singing so why are you freaking out? If anyone's supposed to be nervous it's me, you're just playing in the band there's no way you'll make a mistake playing your guitar."

"Casey I'm the one who wrote this song so technically I'm also performing it, I'm just not the one singing it but same difference! What if Sally doesn't like it what if it's not enough?"

"Derek do you like your song?" Casey asked him as she placed her hands on his shoulders. He looked at her hands then looked back up at her and nodded. "Good, then that's all that matters. Your song is great and everyone including Sally will love it, now come on lets go it's our turn to perform." She said with an encouraging smile.

Derek let out a deep breath just as Ralph and Sam joined them backstage before they all headed out up onto the stage.

"Hello everyone! How's everybody doing? So today I'm helping D-rock perform a song that Derek wrote himself for a special someone, but since he's a chicken and too scared to sing it himself I'm going to sing it for him. This song is called 'So Contagious' and I hope you guys like it just as much as I do." Casey took a deep breath and tried not to let her nerves show as she waited for the guys to get set up on stage. Truthfully Casey was just as nervous as Derek, she too had a bad case of stage fright but she always managed to deal with it somehow. Today was no different, she would have to suck it up and deal with it so that she could perform this song for Derek, there's no way she was going to let Derek down, she just couldn't. Her train of thought got interrupted when the music began to play; she took another breath and began to sing.

 _'_ _Oh no, this couldn't be more unexpected_

 _And I can tell that I've been moving in so slow_

 _Don't let it throw you off too far_

 _Cause I'll be running right behind you_

 _Could this be out of line? (Could this be out of line?)_

 _To say you're the only one breaking me down like this_

 _You're the only one I would take a shot on_

 _Keep me hanging on so contagiously_

 _Oohhh, when I'm around you I'm predictable_

 _Cause I believe in loving you with first sight_

 _I know it's crazy but I'm hoping to…_

 _To take a hold of you_

 _Could this be out of line? (Could this be out if line?)_

 _To say you're the only one breaking me down like this_

 _You're the only one I would take a shot on_

 _Keep me hanging on so contagiously_

 _Oh you're everything I'm wanting_

 _Come to think of it I'm aching_

 _On account of my transgression_

 _Will you welcome this confession?_

 _Could this be out of line? (Could this be out of line?)_

 _To say you're the only one breaking me down like this_

 _You're the only one I would take a shot on_

 _Keep me hanging on so contagiously_

 _Could this be out of line? (Could this be out of line?)_

 _To say you're the only one breaking me down like this_

 _You're the only one I would take a shot on_

 _Keep me hanging on so contagiously'_

The crowd started to applaud just as Casey finished singing. She looked back towards Derek and winked at him as she mouthed 'We did it!' to him. He replied with a smirk as he set his guitar down.

Sally walked up onto the stage and gave Casey a hug. "Ladies and gentleman give another hand for D-Rock! Derek I loved the song and Casey thanks for helping him sing it." She said with a smile before letting Casey step off the stage.

"Dude that may have been the cheesiest song D-rock has ever or will ever perform, but it was still so awesome!" Ralph exclaimed once they had all returned backstage.

"Agreed!" Derek and Casey replied in unison.

"Derek! I can't believe you actually wrote me a song! It was so beautiful I loved it!" Sally exclaimed as she joined them backstage and walked up to give Derek a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Come on guys let's give them some privacy." Sam said as he packed up his guitar.

"Yeah I need to get home anyways I still have a lot of homework to finish." Casey said.

"Keener." Derek answered with a smirk.

"Jerk." Casey snapped back, trying to hide her smile. "Goodnight Sally I'll see you later." Casey gave Sally a hug then followed the guys out to head home.

"Now where were we?" Sally said with a smile after everyone had left.

"I think you were in the middle of thanking me for being the best boyfriend ever." Derek replied with a smirk as he kissed Sally, and she returned the favor.

* * *

"Hey Sally where's Derek?" Casey asked as she walked into Derek's room.

"I sent him downstairs to make me some hot tea."

"You got Derek making tea for you? Wow he is whipped." Casey joked. "What are you reading?" She asked as she walked over to sit next to Sally on the bed.

"Derek let me read the lyrics to his song. I want to make a copy of it so that I could keep it for myself, knowing him he'll lose the original by next week." Sally said with a laugh.

"Very true, although surprisingly he managed to keep the original for a while now since he wrote this song before you even asked him to."

"He did?"

"Yeah here look…" Casey took the notebook and scrolled through it until she found the page with the original version of his song. "Here it is, I was trying to help him write a song then I scrolled through his notebook and found this. He said he wrote it a while back and that it was nothing but I looked over it, made some corrections to it as you can see, and convinced him to finish editing the song so that he could sing it for you."

"Aw thanks Casey I'm so glad he has you, Derek can be a very sweet guy but he does need a little push sometimes and you're right the song turned out great."

"As much as I hate to admit it, this was all Derek all I did was find the song and corrected the grammar. Anyways I'm going to head to bed, goodnight Sally." Casey said as she stood up.

"Goodnight Casey." After Casey left Sally looked over the original version of the song and saw the corrections that Casey made with red ink. She smiled to herself at all of the grammatical errors that Derek had made. Casey was right, aside from the corrections that she had made and a few extra sentences; the song after it was finished was pretty much the same as this original one. She flipped over the page to see if there was anything else on the back, there was. She smoothed down the wrinkles in the paper so that she could make out the sloppy handwriting on the back and froze as she read what it said. On the back of the original lyrics was written:

 _'_ _Princess: written 5-15-03'_

"Okay so it took me a few minutes but I finally found Casey's hidden stash of teas. Here you go nice and— What's wrong?" Derek asked, stopping by his bed to set the hot tea down as he saw the look on Sally's face.

"I found the original version to the lyrics you wrote." She said quietly.

"Oh don't look at that the finished one I gave you is much better, the original has several mistakes and Casey's scribbles all over it." Derek said as he sat down next to Sally on his bed.

"The original also has the name of the title, along with the date that it was written." Sally whispered quietly as she looked back down at the notebook.

Derek followed her gaze and looked down at the page that Sally was looking at. _Oh crap._ Derek thought. "That's…" Derek began but was interrupted by Sally.

"May 2003, that's when you wrote this song Derek. You and I didn't start dating until this year, 2004. You didn't write this song for me did you?" Sally asked as she finally looked up at Derek. He tried to speak but was interrupted again. "No you couldn't have because you haven't even met me yet when you wrote this song, which means you wrote this song about someone else and you used this song to describe your feelings for me when this song was never even about me." She said in a hurt tone.

"Sally I'm sorry I— this song is for you I mean it wasn't originally but I didn't use it just because it was the easy way out. Casey found it and said it was really good and that I should sing it for you, she automatically assumed I had written it for you but when I looked at the song I realized it was good and it fit you so I just changed it a bit and made it for you. When Casey sang the song tonight it was meant for you, every word of it."

"Derek who are you trying to fool? Me or yourself? You may have sung it for me but you didn't write it for me, you and I both know it." Sally said looking up at Derek again, this time he looked away avoiding her gaze. "Why did you title the song 'Princess'?" Sally asked him but she didn't need to because she already knew the answer. There was only one person who he called Princess, and it wasn't Sally. When Derek looked up at her he too knew that she knew the answer, which meant that she knew who the song was originally written about. After a few minutes of silence she finally stood up and walked over to his desk chair to grab her purse. "I'll call you tomorrow after work so that you can come over and pick up your things from my house. Thanks for the tea Derek." And with that, she left.

* * *

"Well good morning rock star, Casey was just telling us about the song you guys performed for Sally last night, never pegged you as a softie Derek." George said jokingly as Derek joined everyone in the kitchen for breakfast.

"I'm not." Derek replied simply.

"I think it was really sweet of you Derek, to do something so nice for your girlfriend." Nora spoke up with a warm smile.

"Can we please stop talking about that stupid song?" Derek mumbled in an annoyed tone.

"Derek be nice." George said sternly.

"Yeah Derek be nice." Edwin added in teasingly, getting a scowl from Derek in return and a disapproving look from George.

Casey eyed Derek strangely as he walked over to the fridge and yanked the door open. _What is up with him he seemed just fine last night…Something's wrong._ "So Lizzie you ready for your soccer game tomorrow?" Casey asked trying to get the attention off of Derek.

"Oh yeah those stupid 'Giants' are going down this year!" Lizzie answered excitedly. "You're gonna be there right?"

"Of course Liz, we all are." Casey replied with a smile. "Derek can you give me a ride to school this morning? Emily was supposed to but she's running late." Casey asked.

"Whatever, let's go." Derek replied with a grunt as he jugged down his orange juice and grabbed Edwin's toast from his plate before heading towards the front door.

Casey ran upstairs to grab her backpack and got out her phone to quickly text Emily.

 **C: Getting a ride from Derek. Sorry, see you at school love you.**

 **E: Since when do you voluntarily take rides from Derek instead of me? Whatever see you at school love ya too.**

"Took you long enough." Derek said as Casey climbed into the passenger seat.

"Sorry had to get my backpack." Casey apologized and Derek just rolled his eyes. After a few minutes of driving in silence Casey spoke up again. "You wanna talk about it?"

Derek glanced over at Casey before looking back on the road. He was still getting used to this new friendship behavior that him and Casey had developed over the past month or so, so he was surprised at how Casey could see right through him. They were starting to get to the stage where Casey could tell when Derek was being a jerk just to annoy her, or when he was being a jerk to cover up how he was really feeling when something was bothering him. _Does she always have to read me like a book?_ He thought to himself before replying with a simple no.

"Okay." Casey said as she leaned over and turned on the radio. She didn't expect him to talk about it on the ride over to school; she knew that he would tell her once he was ready. That's not why she had asked him for a ride this morning, not to get him to talk, but to let him know that she'll listen when he's ready.

They pulled up to the school and as Derek cut the engine he looked over at Casey. "Thanks." He said simply.

"Anytime." She replied with a smile as she opened the door and got out of the car. And that is why she rode with him that morning, not to get him to talk but just to get a simple thank you from Derek for just being there.

* * *

Derek sat there in his car for what seemed like hours but it was only thirty minutes. After school he had gotten a call from Sally asking him to meet her after work at six so that she could give him his stuff back. He had arrived at 5:45 and couldn't get himself to get out of the car. He knew he and Sally were over and he knew it was only a matter of time, but he still didn't know how he felt about it. He was confused at the calm way Sally had acted, she didn't seem hurt or disappointed she just seemed sad, as if she also knew that this was bound to happen sooner or later and was just sad that it happened sooner. He took out his phone and texted Sally.

 **D: I'm outside, waiting in the car.**

 **S: Be right out.**

Derek put away his phone just as he saw Sally walk out of Smelly Nelly's and look around for his car. He stepped out and walked towards her. "Hey." He said with a small smile.

"Hey, hang on I left your stuff in my car let me go get it." She said quickly as she walked over to her car, with Derek right behind her. She took out the box and handed it to Derek as she said "Everything's in there, except for that Chris Daughtry CD you bought for me… I kind of like it."

Derek laughed as he took the box from her. "It's fine it was a gift anyways… You didn't have to give me back my stuff you know."

"I know, but I wanted to because it just wouldn't feel right keeping it. Listen Derek I'm not mad and I'm not giving you your stuff back because this is a bad breakup and I don't want to remember you, I'm giving you your stuff back because I need closure. I knew you and I weren't going to be together forever and I was stupid to try and make you feel something for me when you clearly didn't."

"Sally I—"

"No let me finish. I knew, I knew as soon as Casey sung that song that it wasn't written for me and I chose to ignore that voice in the back of my head, but when I read the lyrics closely before even looking at the title and the date on the back, I knew for sure that you didn't write that song for me. And to be honest I knew all along, I just didn't want to believe it because I really wanted you and I to last, but after that song I now know that even if I would have never heard this song or if I never told you that I loved you, you still would have never told me that you loved me. Do you know why? Because you're not the kind of guy who goes around claiming he loves someone when he doesn't. You may say that you don't do feelings Derek but you do, you're the kind of guy who wants to say I love you to only one girl, and you couldn't say it to me not only because you didn't love me back, but also because you already found the girl you want to say I love you to and the only reason you haven't told her yet is because it's Casey."

Derek just stood there at first not knowing what to say. Sally was right, she was right about everything but Derek had never admitted it to anyone including himself. "I really am sorry Sally I never meant to hurt you or lead you on, I really did try to love you and be the one for you."

"I know you did Derek, that's why you're such a great guy and that's why I fell for you." She saw the pained look on Derek's face and continued. "Don't apologize again Derek it's not your fault that I love you and I'm not sorry that I do, because I know I'll get over it. I might need some time but I will get over it because I don't want to be with a guy who can't love me back, I don't want to be with a guy who loves someone else. You have to tell her Derek."

"Tell who what?"

"Oh don't play stupid Derek, I know you keep trying to deny it but stop fighting it! You realize that almost everyone knows that you love Casey except for you and Casey?"

"Sally I can't she's my step-sister and I don't love her." He stopped when Sally gave him a pointed look. "Okay so I care about her more than I've ever cared about anyone my whole life but that doesn't mean that I love her. And even if I did love her, there's nothing I can do about it because like I said she's my step-sister and she doesn't feel the same way about me."

"Derek you and I both know that you never saw Casey as your sister and you never will. She's your step-sister no blood relation what so ever, and if you weren't so stubborn then you'd realize that she cares about you just as much as you care about her."

Derek stood silently again for a few minutes. "You're not mad?" He asked.

"Derek I love you and I love Casey, what kind of person would I be if I tried to stand in between two people who love each other, even if they're both too stubborn to admit it themselves." She replied with a smile.

"You're really amazing you know that?" Derek replied back with a smile.

"Oh I know." She said with a smirk. "So tomorrow's my last day at Smelly Nelly's. I got a job offer in Vancouver and at first I didn't give them an answer. I was going to talk to you about it first, and then I was going to tell you that I'm not going, but now I realized that I need this so I called them back and accepted the job offer. I'm leaving this weekend and before you say anything this isn't your fault Derek. I need this, this will be perfect for me and now that we're not together anymore there's nothing holding me back here and this is my dream job Derek, so you're actually helping me with this breakup, by making me go after my dream." She said gently and Derek smiled in return.

"How'd I get so lucky to meet someone as great as you?"

"Beats me." She said jokingly and Derek laughed. "Now listen you have to promise me something, while I'm off chasing my dream you need to promise me that you will be chasing yours. I will return to visit some day and when I do, you and Casey better be together by then." She said sternly.

Derek sighed. "Sally you know it's not that easy, Casey and I we're complicated and we fight like cats and dogs. If I tell her I love her she'll laugh in my face and think I'm playing a prank on her."

"You just admitted that you love her."

"What? No I didn't."

"Yes you did you just said that if you tell her you love her she won't believe you, so you love her."

"I'm not admitting to anything." Derek said with a smirk.

"Fine be that way. Look if you're too scared to tell her that you love her and care about her then start by showing her. Start slow and tell her when you're ready, but don't push her away and don't let her push you away." Sally said as she touched his arm.

"Thanks Sally, for everything. You really are the best girlfriend I've ever had." He said as he set the box on top of Sally's car so that he could give her a hug.

She returned the hug and smiled at their bittersweet moment. "And you were a great boyfriend Derek Venturi, but I'm not going anywhere. I may be leaving to Vancouver but I'm still your friend and I'll be calling you quite frequently to nag you about Casey."

"Oh come on don't I get enough nagging from Casey already? I don't need any more from you too." Derek whined.

"Well too bad you're just gonna have to deal with it." She said with a smirk. "Anyways I need to get going, still have a lot of packing left to do before I leave for Vancouver."

"I guess this is goodbye." Derek said as he gave her one more hug.

"Just for now, goodbye Derek." She whispered as she let go of their hug. Derek walked around her to open the car door for her, she got in and started her car. "Don't forget your box of junk on the hood of my car." She said teasingly.

"Hey my stuff is not junk!" He replied with a laugh. He walked over to grab the box and waved at Sally as she pulled out of the parking lot. "Bye Sally, I'll miss you." He told her before she drove off. He walked back to his car and set the box in the passenger seat. He smiled to himself as he started his car and pulled out of the parking lot. This was not the way he expected tonight to go, but he was definitely glad that it went the way that it did. _Wow, I never thought I'd feel happy about a break up and not feel bad about it afterwards. This is the most civilized breakup I've ever had._ He thought to himself. Now if he were in this situation with Casey, it would have definitely not been civilized, nothing with Casey ever is, but that's what made her his Casey.

* * *

Casey was in her room reading her book when Derek walked in without knocking. Normally she would have yelled at him for not knocking but tonight she didn't, because by the look on his face she could tell he was ready to talk. She watched him as he walked over and sat down on her bed by her feet. She waited patiently as Derek sat there trying to figure out where to start.

"I met up with Sally today so that she could give me back my stuff. She got a job offer in Vancouver and she accepted it, she's leaving this weekend. We broke up but we agreed to still stay friends." He finally spoke up.

"What? She tells you that she loves you, you write her a song to tell her how you feel about her and then she goes and tells you that she's moving away? What about long distance, I know Sally it's not like her to just give up like that she would have at least suggested long distance right?" Casey exclaimed, getting a little angry with Sally for doing this to Derek. No wonder he looked so miserable this morning. Sally had broken up with him, and after such a sweet romantic gesture too.

"No we both agreed this was for the best."

"For the best Derek you looked miserable all day! You clearly still care for her aren't you going to try to fight for her? Sally is the best thing that has ever happened to you how could you just let her go like that?" Casey ranted on.

"I didn't write that song for her, I wrote it for you!" Derek snapped back, leaving Casey in a stunned silence. "That's why she took this job, because she realized that this song wasn't written for her. I wrote that song before I even met Sally. I never meant for anyone to see it, but then you found it in my notebook and thought it was for Sally so I just played it off like it was. I thought that if I changed it up a bit I could convince myself that this song was for Sally, but I didn't even change the song because it was already finished. And when you sung that song for Sally, I realized that it didn't fit her at all because it wasn't written for her. And after reading the lyrics she realized it too. That's why we broke up."

Derek looked up at her after he finished speaking, trying to read her eyes but they held no emotion. After a few minutes Casey let out a sharp laugh. "Is this a joke? You're trying to blame your breakup with Sally on me? You're saying you wrote that song for me? Derek it's a love song why in the world would you write a song like that for me especially if you never planned on showing it to me?"

Derek let out a frustrated sigh. "I never showed you that song because I knew you would never believe that I wrote it about you! God I'm so stupid I knew I shouldn't have told you this I can't believe I listened to Sally!" He exclaimed as he stood up from the bed.

"Wait a minute, Sally told you to talk to me?"

"Yeah, she knew the song was about you."

"And what did she say to that?"

"That she wasn't surprised, that the words fit my feelings towards you more than they did towards her." Derek admitted.

Casey sat there speechless. _What the heck is going on? Is Derek admitting his feelings towards me? And Sally knows? And she's okay with it? What am I supposed to do? I've always wondered if Derek felt the same way about me as I do about him and now that I know that he does I don't even know what to do!_

"Look I never planned on telling you about the song but I promised Sally that I'd start showing you that I care about you, because I do, I care about you Casey. It's up to you whether you want to see it as friendly caring or something more, but it is definitely not brotherly caring."

"I care about you too Derek, the same way I would care about my brother." She lied. "Now let's pretend this conversation never happened and tomorrow we can go back to our normal relationship as brother and sister." She said calmly as she picked up her book and pretended to read.

"Damn it Casey would you cut it out!" Derek yelled as he walked over and yanked the book out of Casey's hands, startling her. "You and I both know that our relationship is not normal and you and I are not and will never be brother and sister. If you don't feel the same way about me then fine, but at least don't ignore my feelings and don't push me away."

Casey let out a deep breath as she tried to gather her thoughts. "I'm sorry." She apologized. "Did you really write that song about me?" She asked, and Derek nodded. She smiled to herself as she remembered the lyrics to the song. "In the song you wrote 'Don't let it throw you off too far, cause I'll be running right behind you.' Did you mean that?" She asked and again he nodded. "Derek you'll never be my brother and thank you for the song it's really beautiful, but I just need more time to figure things out, to figure out whether I even believe you or not, and to figure out where to go from here."

"I understand." Derek said, trying not to feel humiliated. _She doesn't feel the same way about me… She doesn't even believe me._

"I care about you too Derek, and if you really do care about me then you'll do this one favor for me."

"What favor?"

"Tonight you can say anything you want to me and I'll say anything that I want to you, but starting tomorrow morning we go back to just being Casey and Derek. We go back to pretending like tonight never happened, and when I'm ready for tonight's conversation to repeat I'll let you know, but until then we go back to being Casey and Derek, the step-siblings who always fight yet still always have each other's backs. Can you promise me that?"

Derek sat there and thought about what Casey just said. She wasn't admitting that there was anything between then but she wasn't denying it either. She just needed time, that's all she was asking for right? "Okay, I promise." Derek agreed.

"Thank you." Casey said with a smile as she took hold of his hand and pulled him down to sit next to her on the bed. She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek before looking up at him. "You're the only one I would take a shot on." She said, repeating the words from his song.

Derek smiled in return as he brought up his hand to cup her face. "Can I kiss you?" He whispered.

"Tonight never happened?" Casey asked.

"Tonight never happened." Derek repeated. Casey smiled as she leaned forward, letting Derek know that he could kiss her, and he did just that. He kissed her. It was soft and gentle, short and sweet, but it was everything Casey had been waiting for.

* * *

 **Soo what'd ya'll think?**

 **Also the song that Derek wrote in this story is called So Contagious by Acceptance, it is not mine I just borrowed it for Derek because i couldnt come up with my own song and i thought that this song fit perfectly in this chapter.**

 **P.S. For those who didnt see the note in chapter 3,** **I went back and revised chapter 2, just added in a few extra sentences nothing major. So if you'd like please go back and reread!**


	5. Chapter 5: Prank Wars

**Authors Note: Okay first of all I am soo sorry that it took me so long to update! It has been a very busy two weeks and even though I already had this chapter written out I haven't had time to go back to edit it and post it. So it's not the best chapter, its more of a filler chapter, but still let me know what you think!**

 **P.S. Some of the scenes in here are from the actual Life with Derek show, for example some of the pranks that Derek plays on her.**

 **P.P.S. Thank you all SO much for all your reviews and encouragement to continue this story, it really means a lot to me! I have two other stories that I was working on but I put them on pause for now because I don't want to abandon this story, but I am excited about the other stories as well, so if ya'll end up really liking this one then once this one is finished I will post my next story!**

 **Chapter 5:**

* * *

 _Beep Beep Beep Beep!_ Casey groaned as her alarm clock went off. For someone who loved going to school and waking up early the last few days Casey has been dreading waking up in the mornings. There were only 8 weeks left until graduation, but Derek got the idea that school was already basically over and since he turned 18 last week, he also thought that he was officially a free man and could do whatever the hell he wanted to, like pranking Casey; even though that's something he used to do on a daily basis until Sally broke up with him. After that the pranks were still there but they were playful and were kept to a minimum, but Casey knew it was only a matter of time before Derek would strike again with his pranks. She woke up that morning to find out that she was right…

"Casey wake up!" She heard Derek as he banged on her door.

"I am up!" Casey grumbled as she threw the sheets off of her body. "Why are you up this early anyways?" She snapped back through the door, still not getting out of bed.

"Because it's 8:30" Derek said in an obvious tone.

"It can't be." Casey said to herself as she looked at her alarm clock. "Oh my God it is! Why didn't anybody wake me?" Casey yelled as she yanked the door open to see Derek standing there flossing his teeth.

"I just did, nice bed hair Princess." He said teasingly as Casey pushed past him to go to the bathroom.

"Wait a minute, why aren't you at school?" She asked suddenly.

"Dentist appointment." He said simply.

"Oh… Well thanks for waking me up then I guess, it's not like you to be helpful." She said before walking into the bathroom and closing the door.

"No it isn't." Derek chuckled to himself.

"What are you doing?" Edwin asked as he joined Derek who was sitting on the stairs with his video camera facing the front door.

"Waiting to see how long it takes for Casey to realize…"

"It's Saturday!" Casey yelled as she stormed in through the front door throwing her books down on the floor.

"That's genius!" Edwin exclaimed as Derek quickly stood up and started running up the stairs while still filming Casey. "How was school Casey?" Derek asked with a laugh as he continued running up backwards.

"Der-ek! I'm gonna kill you!" Casey screeched as she chased him up the stairs.

"Derek at it with his pranks again?" Lizzie asked Edwin as he walked into the kitchen.

"Yup, one day those two are either going to kill each other or hook up, or both." Edwin said and Lizzie laughed in agreement.

"Der-ek!" Casey yelled as she pounded on his closed door. "That is enough with the pranks! Can't you give it a rest already."

"Sorry Case no can do." Derek said through the door.

"You are unbelievable Derek!"

"I'm just having a little fun by playing a harmless prank."

"Harmless?" She shrieked.

"Yeah harmless, no one got hurt did they?"

"Derek this isn't your first prank you've played on me, you're stupid pranks always ruin my reputation!"

"What reputation Case?" Derek said with a laugh. "You're just mad because you can't beat me at my own game; because let's face it you can't prank the prankster."

"You wanna bet?" Casey said as she kicked Derek's door before storming into her room.

And that's when the prank wars began.

* * *

The next morning Derek woke up and lay in bed stretching when he heard a ding go off from his computer, notifying him that he got an email. He got up and goes to sit in his desk chair, only to fall right out of it when an air horn goes off. "Case-y!"

"Oh good morning Derek." Casey said smugly as she opened his door and stood at his doorway. "George wanted me to wake you up. George he's awake!" She yelled down the stairs as Derek glared at her from the floor. "And you call me Klutzilla?" She said with an eye roll before turning around and heading downstairs.

The morning after that Casey ran down the school hallway in a hurry. "Casey where have you been all morning?" Emily asked as Casey rushed to her locker after first period.

"Sorry Ems Derek made me late **again!** He hid my clothes and my makeup and practically all my stuff, I swear he's trying to ruin my life.

"It's just pranks Casey."

"Just pranks? Who's side are you on Emily?"

"Yours of course. And didn't you say you were gonna prank him back?

"I did yesterday, but I don't think it was enough. I need something more, something that will beat him at his own game." Casey said as she stood there with a look of concentration.

Emily rolled her eyes. She would never understand the competitive relationship between Derek and Casey. "Is that Derek's shirt?" She asked suddenly.

"Morning Emily, morning Klutzilla nice shirt!" Derek said with a smirk as he walked up to the two girls.

"Go away Derek." Casey snapped as she opened her locker, only to have a huge pile of her things fall out of her locker. "Der-ek!"

"So that's where your stuff went." Emily said, receiving a glare from Casey in return.

Casey turned her glare to a laughing Derek. "This is not funny Der-ek!"

"Uh it kind of is." He said as he continued to laugh.

Casey angrily scrambled to pick up her things off of the floor when she bumped her head into someone's feet, who then bent down in front of her. "Strawberry scented deodorant, nice." Truman said teasingly as he picked up her deodorant and then offered his hand out to Casey to help her up.

She looked down to hide her blush as she accepted his offered hand and stood up. "Thanks." She replied shyly before turning around to put her things back into her locker.

Derek stood there watching a blushing Casey, a jealous feeling creeping up. "Wow Casey it's sad, the only way you can pick up guys is by being a Klutzilla, although technically he was picking you up, off the ground…" Derek laughed at his own joke.

Truman looked like he was about to say something but Casey interrupted when she let out a frustrated yell and slammed her locker shut before storming off to class, with Emily right behind her.

* * *

The following day was a Friday and Derek was excited for the weekend to finally get a break from school, unlike Casey who was surrounded by books in the dining room studying her night away. He shook his head at Casey then grabbed his leather jacket before walking out towards his car ready to go out to tonight's party, only to find his car completely wrapped in plastic wrap. "Case-y!"

"Yes Derek?" Casey said innocently, suddenly appearing at the front door.

"My car!"

"Ooh yeah looks like you're not going anywhere tonight."

He took a deep breath trying not to let Casey get to him. He was the one who's supposed to prank her to get a rise out of her, not the other way around. "I'll just have to call Sam then." He said forcing a smile. "Your prank is lame by the way." He said nonchalantly as he walked back inside.

Later that day Casey tried to step it up with another prank, since Derek thought her previous one was so lame. Derek walked into the kitchen to find Casey sitting at the counter enjoying a box of donuts while reading her book. "Ooh donuts!" Derek exclaimed as he reached for one, just as Casey grabbed the box and pulled them away from him.

"Yeah donuts, I felt like treating myself with something sweet and you can't have any." She said stubbornly.

"Well that's too bad cause I feel like treating myself too." He said as he reached over her and grabbed a donut.

"Der-ek!" Casey yelled as she tried to keep the smirk to herself.

Less than five seconds later Casey burst out with laughter when Derek almost instantly spit out the donut that he just shoved in his face. "Mayo? Who puts mayo in a donut?!" He exclaimed disgustingly as he ran to the fridge and grabbed the container of milk before chugging it down.

"Oh don't you just hate it when people mess up your orders?" Casey said with a teasing smirk, and in return getting a glare from Derek.

"What's the matter Derek I thought you loved mayo?" She continued teasing, knowing very well that Derek hates mayo.

"Oh yeah especially in my donuts." He snapped back.

"Actually they were **my** donuts. Maybe if you learned not to steal other peoples' food then you wouldn't have to worry about eating mayo." She said with a smug smile as she stood up to throw the rest of the donuts away. "And Derek, stop drinking out of the freaking carton and grab a glass!"

Derek smirked to himself as he watched Casey storm out of the kitchen. Even when he wasn't trying he still managed to rile her up somehow.

* * *

The following week continued in the same pattern. Derek would prank Casey, she would prank him back, then he would prank her back and she would prank him again, each time trying to beat Derek's own pranks. As much as Casey was having fun, she was also getting tired of his pranks but there was no way she was backing down until she could beat him at his own game. And after today's prank she was now even more determined to think of something. Today before her first class, Derek somehow managed to put super glue all over Casey's seat. When she went to stand up to see what felt sticky under her pants, she realized she was stuck; she stood up with more force causing her pants to rip in the back and everyone saw her underwear.

"Der-ek! Don't walk away from me I'm talking to you!" Casey slammed the front door shut behind her as she stormed after Derek into the kitchen.

"Oh hey Nora." Derek said as he opened the fridge. Nora rolled her eyes at the two teens. _They can never give me a break can they?_

"I cannot believe that you could humiliate me like that in front of the whole class and play it off like some sort of joke!" Casey continued.

"Casey it was a joke, or you could call it a prank. Feel free to admit that I win this battle."

"I will never do that you jerk. Mom!"

"What did Derek do this time sweetheart?" Nora asked with a sigh.

"He put superglue in my seat! There is a reason why I'm wearing my sweater around my waist and it's not because I think it looks fashionable."

"Really? I think it looks cute." Derek said with a smirk.

"So Derek played another prank on you?" Nora asked.

"Yes! A very humiliating one."

"Haven't you been playing pranks on him too?" Nora asked again.

"Well yes but—"

"Then there's no point complaining if you're both pranking each other."

"Yeah Casey stop complaining." Derek chimed in.

"I am not complaining! And I'm only pranking him because he won't stop pranking me!" Casey defended herself.

"Actually princess I'm only pranking you because you won't stop pranking me." Derek said with a smirk.

"Derek stop pranking Casey and Casey stop pranking Derek. I gotta go to work, make sure the kids do their homework." And with that Nora headed out, leaving Derek and Casey standing in the kitchen face to face.

"You are unbelievable Derek!"

"Unbelievably sexy you mean."

"Ugh pig!"

"Princess!"

"Jerk!"

"Keener!"

"Ugh!" And with that Casey stormed off into her room, tripping over Derek's backpack on the way.

"Klutz!" Derek yelled from the kitchen as he let out a laugh.

 _God why does he always manage to drive me so crazy?!_ Casey thought as she threw herself onto her bed. "Stupid jerk, stupid pranks, stupid stupid stupid!" She yelled into her pillow.

Derek grabbed a magazine before going to sit on his bed, and laughed to himself as he heard Casey ranting through the wall. "Love you too Case." He said to himself with a smile.

* * *

Casey woke up the next day on the wrong side of the bed, literally. She looked around wondering how her head ended up at the foot of her bed then she looked down at her feet only to see someone's head poking out from underneath her sheets next to her feet. Marti; that's when she remembered that Marti had came in around 3 a.m. this morning asking Casey if she could sleep with her because she was having nightmares. Casey's heart melted as soon as she saw the little girl sound asleep. She got up quietly so not to wake up Marti and went to her closet to pick out her clothes. As she opened her closet she had to refrain from screaming Derek's name since Marti was still sleeping. Derek had once again cleaned out her entire closet including her dresser, leaving nothing but her Babe Raider outfit on her hanger. She quietly exited her room before storming into Derek's room. She pulled his pillow from beneath his head and chucked it at him.

"What the— oh morning keener, get out of my room." Derek said sleepily.

Casey angrily threw the Babe Raider outfit at his face. "You stole my clothes again you jerk!" Casey whispered angrily.

Derek let out a laugh. "And you came into my room just to tell me that? I was expecting your famous Der-ek scream."

"Trust me it was at the tip of my tongue, but Marti's asleep in my room so I had to wait until I left my room before I could yell at you." Casey whispered loudly.

"Marti's asleep in your room? Why?" Derek asked curiously as he sat up in bed.

"She's been having nightmares again."

"Again?"

"Yeah, she's been sleeping with me almost every day for the past few weeks." Casey replied as she sat at the foot of Derek's bed, suddenly forgetting that she was mad at him.

"I didn't even know she was having nightmares again, I thought they stopped last year."

"They did, until a few weeks ago."

"Why didn't she come to me? She always comes to me about her nightmares."

"She said it was because you're normally still awake and not in bed yet. The first time it happened I went out to go use the bathroom and saw her standing at your door. You were on the phone with someone I think and she told me she wanted to snuggle with you but didn't want to bother you, then she asked if she could sleep with me and ever since then she would just quietly sneak into my room in the middle of the night."

"She thinks she would bother me? Why would she think that?" Derek asked confused. He was a little upset that Marti would come to Casey instead of him.

"I'm sure it's nothing Derek, I mean think about it she just wants someone to cuddle with so her nightmares go away but you're usually not in bed yet I'm sure it's nothing personal." She said gently, feeling a little guilty for taking Marti from him in a way.

"It's not that it's just that Marti never goes to anyone but me about her nightmares. I think I'm the only one in this family who even knows about them, well me and now you too. I guess she must consider you special to go to you about something like this." Derek said with a small smile.

"Well in any case I'm honored that she's able to come to me for comfort, Marti's a great kid." Casey said as she made eye contact with Derek.

"Yeah she is." He agreed with a warm smile, not breaking the eye contact.

After a few moments Casey started feeling awkward just sitting there so she quickly got up and walked over to Derek's drawers to grab a pair of his sweats and a t-shirt. "Stop stealing my clothes you jerk." She said with a playful smile before heading back into her room to wake up Marti. "Marti sweetie wake up." She said gently.

Marti slowly poked out her head from under the covers, a smile appearing on her face as soon as she saw Casey. "Morning Casey, thanks for chasing the monsters away again."

"Anytime kiddo, hey maybe next time you can let Derek chase away your monsters for you."

"But he's usually busy when I need him." Marti said quietly.

"Marti Derek is never too busy for you, you're his little Smarti he'd do anything for you."

"That's true, he has always been there for me. Thanks Casey." Marti said with a smile.

"Anytime kiddo, now go get ready for school or you're gonna be late." Casey said as she helped Marti get out of bed.

"I'm going I'm going—oomph! Oh hey Smerek!" Marti exclaimed after she ran right into Derek.

"Hey Smarti, how's my little munchkin doing this morning?" He asked as he picked her up.

Casey turned around to watch the two of them. _Has he been standing there the whole time?_

Marti giggled as Derek lightly tickled her. "I'm good thanks to Casey! She helped scare away my monsters for me."

"She did?" Derek asked pretending to be surprised.

"Yup! She's great at it… Smerek next time can you scare away my monsters for me?" Marti asked sweetly.

"Of course Smarti, anytime. Now come on let's go and get you some breakfast." Derek said as he began heading out of Casey's room. He turned around first and gave Casey a genuine smile as he mouthed the words 'Thank you' before turning back around to leave.

Casey smiled to herself as she grabbed her robe and headed towards the bathroom to shower. It was moments like these that made all of the fighting with Derek seem like nothing. And it was moments like these that made it harder for Casey not to remember the night when he told her that he and Sally had broken up.

* * *

Casey had just gotten out of the shower and was back in her room changing. She was pulling Derek's t-shirt over her head just as Derek barged into her bedroom. "Der-ek! Do you ever knock? I was changing!" Casey yelled at him.

"And I missed the show? Darn it!" Derek mocked as he smirked. "Nice look Casey definitely fits your masculine figure way better than those girly clothes you always wear." He joked.

"I am not masculine! And if you wouldn't have taken my clothes **again** then I wouldn't have to be wearing your stupid clothes!" Casey snapped back.

"My stupid clothes look good on you." Derek said and then quickly regretted it.

"What?" Casey asked, taken aback. This was the third time just this week that Derek had made a slip up like that. At first he would quickly cover it up by adding an insult to the accidental compliment, but now he was starting to get really bad at covering them up.

"I—uh—I'm hungry." Derek stammered, before quickly running out and heading into his bedroom.

"The kitchen's downstairs Derek." Casey shouted out, and Derek in return just slammed his door shut. _Did Derek just give me another compliment? What has gotten into him? I mean it's not like I mind it, but at the same time I wish he'd continue insulting me more and stop with the stupid compliments before he notices the kind of effect that they have on me._ Casey let out a frustrated sigh as she grabbed her backpack and headed downstairs into the kitchen. As she reached the bottom of the stairs she heard George and Nora in the kitchen arguing about something. "It's not fair to the kids Georgie!" She heard her mom say. "Don't call me that." George had snapped back. _What is going on? It's not like George to snap at mom like that._ Casey thought worriedly as she stepped into the kitchen. "Morning mom, morning George." Casey said sweetly, as she saw her mom and George turn away from each other quickly, not wanting to continue their fight in front of Casey.

"Morning sweetie. Sorry I didn't have time to make breakfast, could you just grab some cereal or something?" Casey's mom said distractedly as she grabbed her purse and keys.

"Sure mom, have a great day at work!" Casey told her as she waved goodbye before her mother headed out the door. She turned around to ask George if he wanted her to make him something for breakfast, but he was no longer there. _That was strange._ Casey thought as she sat down to make herself a bowl of cereal.

* * *

It was the weekend before finals week; George was away at a business trip and Nora had taken the kids to visit her sister, leaving Casey and Derek at home to study. Casey had stayed up all night the previous night studying so this Saturday morning she planned on hanging out with Emily for a few hours to take a break before hitting the books again. Derek of course had the whole weekend planned out to do absolutely nothing, except prank Casey. Derek knew Casey had plans with Emily today so he chose this morning to once again get rid of all of her clothes. _Seriously this is the second time this week, it's almost like he_ _ **wants**_ _me to wear his clothes, but then again…maybe he does?_ Casey thought after she let out the expected "Der-ek!" yell before wrapping the sheets around her body and heading for Derek's room to take his clothes. Unfortunately for Casey, with the summer approaching last night had been a rather hot night causing Casey to strip off her pajamas and to sleep in only her bra and panties. This meant that Derek had also taken her pajamas off of the floor, leaving her with absolutely nothing. _This is getting kind of old; he might as well just lay out his clothes in my room if he plans on me wearing them so often._ Casey thought as she searched through Derek's things, only to realize that this time he had added a twist to his prank. This time Derek had hidden all of his clothes too. Casey let out a frustrated sigh as she headed into Lizzie's room. She grabbed Lizzie's robe and threw it on so that she could get downstairs into her mothers' bedroom to borrow her clothes. She started heading out of Lizzie's bedroom and stopped as a thought popped into her head. _Derek only plays pranks on me to get a rise out of me, and fortunately for him that is exactly what he has been getting all week long. Well guess what Venturi? Two can play this game so bring it on._ Casey thought with a smirk as she took off Lizzie's robe and hung it back up before heading downstairs towards the kitchen.

"Good morning Derek" Casey sang out as she walked into the kitchen and headed for the fridge.

"Morning Princ—" Derek stopped mid sentence as he took notice of Casey standing by the fridge with her back towards him, wearing nothing but her dark blue lace cheeksters and matching bra. He watched her with his mouth open in shock as she turned around and poured herself a bowl of cereal. _Am I dreaming? This can't be real. Casey McDonald would not be standing here in practically nothing, in front of her step brother as if it were the most normal thing in the world. And why the hell am I staring?! Stop staring Venturi before she bites your head off!_ Derek scolded himself internally as he continued to stare, too stunned to look away, both because of her half naked body and the fact that he still couldn't believe this was real.

"Your stupid prank is getting old Derek, and hiding your clothes so that I won't be able to borrow them when you steal mine does not make it any less boring." Casey said calmly as she leaned back against the kitchen sink eating her cereal.

 _I beg to differ._ Derek thought to himself as he continued to take in Casey's half naked state, trying to avoid staring at her chest.

"Well it's a good thing this summer is really hot, so it's not like I need clothes anyway." Casey said with a smirk as she looked Derek straight in the eye. She finished her bowl of cereal, washed her plate before putting it away and then headed out of the kitchen. "Close your mouth Derek, you'll catch flies." She said over her shoulder as she walked away with a smirk on her face.

Derek continued standing there completely shocked. He didn't even hear the doorbell ring or notice Emily walk in until she stood in front of him snapping her fingers in his face. "Hello, earth to Derek?" She said to him with a quirked eyebrow. Derek finally looked down at Emily, then without saying a word sat down at the kitchen island and continued eating his breakfast. Emily looked at him in confusion.

"You ready to go Ems?" Casey asked her best friend as she emerged from the upstairs, wearing one of Lizzie's shirts and a pair of Derek's sweats that she had hid in Lizzie's room in case Derek had decided to pull his oh so popular prank again. Casey didn't even stop to ask herself why she hadn't put on these clothes right away before walking into the kitchen half naked. The answer was obvious; it was just to beat Derek at his own game. Which seeing how Derek was still in the kitchen with the same look on his face as ten minutes ago, Casey was pretty sure she had won.

"Derek steal your clothes again? And what is wrong with him he's been like that ever since I got here, its freaking me out." Emily questioned.

"Yup and I have no idea, there's a lot wrong with him unfortunately. Later jerkface." And with that Casey grabbed Emily and together they headed out the door and to the mall.

 _What the hell just happened?_ Derek thought to himself as he got up to put his plate in the sink. Then as if Casey had been standing there giving him a pointed look, Derek turned the water on and started washing the dishes. _I think I'm going crazy._ He thought as he washed the dishes.

* * *

 **And there you have it, chapter 5. Please read and review! Let me know your thoughts! Constructive criticism welcome!**

 **-Raichka**


	6. Chapter 6: Kiss Kiss

**Authors Note: First of all I'd like to truly apologize for not posting in literally forever! I have honestly been crazy busy I have had absolutely no time! But like I promised, I am not giving up on this story so here is the next chapter! I am currently working on chapter 7 so hopefully I will have that posted within a week! Don't give up on me yet!**

 **P.S. I am currently working on an Arrow Fanfiction of Olicity and will be posting the first chapters after I finish this Dasey story (maybe even sooner) So any Olicity fans, stay tuned!**

* * *

 **Chapter 6:**

* * *

"This is all your fault Derek!"

"My fault? You're the one who doesn't know how to have fun!"

"You consider this having fun?"

"No, but I was having fun before you got us locked in this stupid bathroom!"

"Well we wouldn't even be in this situation if you never threw this stupid party to begin with. Seriously Derek, our parents go away for one weekend and you just **had** to throw a party, one that is completely out of hand might I add."

"I had everything under control until you Miss Keener decided to butt in."

"If I wouldn't have butted in then Ralph would have made our ceiling fan the dining tables new center piece."

"Okay point taken, but now that you have us locked in this bathroom he's probably gonna do that anyways."

"Hey I never asked you to follow me into the bathroom."

"We were in the middle of an argument I wasn't going to let you walk away with the last word!"

"Wow Derek very mature of you. You just had to get the last word well lucky you now you have all the time in the world to get the last word since you got us locked in here!"

"For the last time that was not my fault! I thought George already fixed the lock."

"No he didn't because he asked you to fix it which of course you never did, no surprise."

"Well excuse me little miss perfect, I don't always do what I'm told like you do."

"Yeah well maybe if you did do what you're told for once in your life then you wouldn't always be getting yourself into trouble."

"Well maybe I like getting into trouble? It's fun."

"Fun? You think this is fun, being locked up in our bathroom while there is a wild party going out of control downstairs in our house?"

"Well if you were any other girl then yes this would actually be fun, but considering I'm locked in here with my keener step-sister, this is far from fun."

"You're a pig."

"Oink Oink." Derek said, trying to annoy Casey.

"Ugh!" Casey let out a frustrated scream as she picked up Marti's rubber ducky and chucked it at him.

"Really Case, that's the best you got?"

Casey turned around and smirked as she saw Derek's shaving cream on the counter. She picked it up and took a step closer to Derek.

"Casey, put that down." Derek said as he backed away.

"Make me."

"Fine don't, but prepare to be shampooed."

"I've seen your bathroom aim before; no way you hit the target."

"Wanna bet?" Derek challenged her, just as he squirted the bottle of shampoo towards her face.

Casey let out a shriek as she sprayed him back with the shaving cream. "Der-ek!"

"Yes princess?" He said teasingly as he sprayed her some more, and Casey returned the favor. For the next few minutes it was a back and forth battle of shampoo war between the two of them, until Casey froze in her tracks. Derek raised a questioning eyebrow as he saw her lower her hand and take a step back. He smirked as it dawned on him, her shampoo bottle was now empty, which meant she had nothing to fight back with.

"Derek… don't you dare." She said sternly as she took another step back.

Derek reached behind him for another shampoo bottle and took a step towards Casey, backing her into the door. "And what if I do?" He asked, as he stood uncomfortably close, looking down at her.

 _Oh God why does he have to stand so close to me?_ Casey looked up at him with panic, then looked behind him and decided to make a run for it. She ducked under his arm and hurried to the other side of the bathroom, but Derek was too quick for her. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back towards him, but Casey being the klutz she is, slipped on the wet floor and went tumbling down, taking Derek down with her. "Get off me you're heavy!" Casey said as she struggled to get up.

"Are you calling me fat?" Derek asked as he mimicked her voice. "Oh you're gonna get it now." He said as he picked up the shampoo bottle and aimed it at her face.

Without thinking Casey quickly lifted her face forward and pecked her lips against Derek's. It was short and quick, but it was good enough to distract Derek long enough for Casey to grab the shampoo bottle out of his hand and roll them over so that she was now on top with the shampoo now aimed at his face. "Haha sucker!" She yelled as she sprayed the shampoo in his face and on his shirt.

"Casey!" Derek yelled as he tried grabbing the shampoo bottle out of her hand, turning it into a wrestling match. After a short while the wrestling finally came to an end and as Casey sat up she burst out with laughter.

 _Did she just kiss me? Did she mean to kiss me or was it just to distract me?_ "Funny how one minute you're attacking me and the next you're laughing with me." Derek said.

"First of all I'm not laughing with you I'm laughing **at** you, and secondly you're not even laughing." Casey said as she rolled her eyes.

"Whatever" He mumbled as he smeared some shaving cream on her face.

Casey squealed then playfully punched his shoulder as she laughed. "It's official, you've driven me crazy."

"Well it wasn't a far drive." Derek teased, causing Casey to laugh. "I can't believe you just laughed at that. I heard that one from Edwin; guess I have driven you crazy… I'm sorry."

"Wait did you just say sorry?"

"What no… why would I?"

"No reason." Casey replied as she leaned her head against the wall. They sat there in silence until they heard a loud crash coming from downstairs.

Derek groaned to himself. "I probably shouldn't have thrown a party the week before summer vacation; I definitely do not plan on being grounded during my summer break." Derek said with a laugh.

"Then why did you?"

"I don't know it's like people expect me to mess up so I do… over and over and over again."

"Well then maybe you should prove them wrong sometimes. And besides its normal to mess up, everyone always does it's a part of life."

"Yeah everyone except for you, you're perfect." _Oh no. Did I just say that out loud? Please tell me Casey didn't hear that…_

 _He thinks I'm perfect?_ "We should probably go back to the party, do some damage control… If that's even possible at this point." Casey said as she stood up, trying to change the topic.

"Don't worry I'm sure they'll just blame me, you'll be fine. And we can't go back, we're locked in remember?"

"Oh right..And thanks, but it was actually kind of fun."

"Yeah arguing with you always is." He said with a smirk. Casey playfully hit his shoulder before standing up and heading for the door. "What are you doing?" Derek asked her.

"I'm trying to see if there is any way that I can get us out of here. We can't just sit in here until our parents get back."

"Well we can't break down the door either, that will get us into even more trouble."

" **Derek!** " Casey and Derek both jumped suddenly when they heard George's angry voice coming up from downstairs.

"On second thought, staying in here doesn't sound so bad…" Casey said as she leaned back against the bathroom sink.

"Hey it's my name he yelled not yours. You had nothing to do with this you'll be fine."

"I could have stopped this party if I really wanted to, or called George, but I didn't so I'm to blame too."

"Why didn't you?" Derek questioned.

"Because I'm not a snitch and because… I don't know, I guess a part of me was having fun too." Casey said as she looked up at Derek.

"You spent most of the night locked up in here with me." Derek pointed out with a laugh.

"Exactly." Casey said with a smile before walking up to the door and heading downstairs to face their parents, leaving Derek standing there wondering what she had meant by that.

* * *

It was the week of finals and Casey was freaking out. Her studying technique was messed up and she kept forgetting everything she studied the second after going over it. Derek however was as cool as a cucumber, until Casey asked him to teach her how to not care about school and to be like him. That is when he realized that being like Derek was not a good idea for Casey or even for Derek especially not now. And that's when he started freaking out about not freaking out. And that's how Derek and Casey ended up helping each other study for finals.

"Ah another point Derek! I'm so proud of you! So far you have missed only ten questions and even those I'm sure you will remember by the time of your exams." Casey beamed as she set down her study cards.

"I hope so… Thanks Case, for you know— helping me study." Derek said awkwardly.

"No Derek thank **you**! By getting your answers wrong you helped me remember the right answers by correcting you. And by correcting you I was helping you study, so I guess it was a win-win for us." Casey replied with a smile as she sat down next to him on the bed.

"Yeah I guess we make a pretty good team huh?" Derek said with a smirk.

"As much as I hate to admit it, I think we do." Casey agreed as she bumped his shoulder with hers. After sitting in silence for a moment and contemplating whether she should say what was on her mind currently, Casey finally spoke up again. "Derek, have you noticed anything weird lately between my mom and your dad?"

"You mean besides the usual?" Derek asked teasingly. When he noticed that she was being serious he straightened up. "Not really, but I haven't been paying much attention lately either. Why do you think they're acting weird?" He asked.

"I don't know. Lately I've caught them arguing a lot in private, and once they see me they stop and walk away from each other. I mean I know couples have fights and its normal but mom and George normally make it a goal to make sure their children never know about it, but lately they haven't really been hiding it. And they just don't seem as happy anymore and during dinner they never talk to each other anymore they only talk to us. Have you noticed that? And they are both always working lately; they're never home or insisting on family days or anything like that anymore." Casey said as she looked up at Derek, who seemed to actually be listening to what she was saying this time.

"Hey I'm not complaining about no more family nights… Those are seriously lame." Derek joked, only getting an eye roll and a sigh from Casey in response. "Look I'm sure it's just regular marriage stuff so don't worry about it." Derek said as he slung his arm around her shoulder.

"I hope you're right Derek." Casey said as she leaned into his shoulder.

 _Yeah, I hope so too._ Derek thought as he unconsciously pulled her in closer _._ "You have other things to worry about right now like finals. Although you shouldn't worry about that either because you're gonna do great." He told her with a smile.

Casey looked up at him and smiled back. "We're both going to do great Derek, because I had a great student and you had an amazing tutor." She said and Derek chuckled.

"I know this isn't a Derek thing to say but I'm actually feeling pretty confident about finals,Ii might even ace them." Derek said with a smile.

"And you should, think of it this way if you ace all of your finals you'll have something new to brag about, plus it will get you off the hook for throwing that disastrous party last week."

"Oh yeah, you're right... I'm definitely not looking forward to spending my summer stuck at home with you." Derek said, getting a light shove from Casey in response before she casually rested her head on his shoulder.

"Hey Derek?" Casey spoke up after a long silence. "Thank you, for listening to me." She whispered into his chest.

 _I'm always listening._ Derek thought as he smiled to himself. "Don't mention it. And I mean seriously, don't mention it to anyone." Derek said with a straight face.

Casey let out a laugh as she sat up and faced him. "Oh right of course, don't want anyone thinking that the Derek Venturi actually cares for people now do we?" She teased.

"Oh shut up." Derek said with an eye roll as he grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back into a hug. Neither one of them brought up the fact that they were sitting there on Derek's bed hugging, practically cuddling. After a long silent moment Casey finally stood up and went over to Derek's desk to gather her school books. She started heading out and turned around when she heard Derek speak up again. "Night princess."

She looked up at him and smiled before replying. "Goodnight Derek."

* * *

"Sam I'm scared" Emily said to Sam as they walked down the school hallway towards their lockers.

"Yeah it's the first day of exams you should be scared, speaking of which have you seen Derek? He hasn't returned any of my calls in days." Sam asked.

"You didn't hear?" Emily asked.

"Hear what is he okay?" Sam asked as he started to worry.

"He's far from okay, he's been studying." Emily stated.

"No way!" Sam exclaimed.

"Yea and you'll never guess who his tutor is." Emily said as she pointed her head towards Casey and Derek, as they walked down the halls together, reviewing notes as if it's something they did every day.

"We did it, high five!" Casey exclaimed to Derek later that day after they had finished taking their finals and passed.

"Oh what the heck, why not a hug?" Derek said as he leaned in for a hug and quietly whispered in her ear "Thanks Case, I couldn't have done this without you."

"You could have, you just didn't want to." Casey replied with a smile as she pulled away from the hug.

"Come on keener, let's go home." Derek said as he slung his arm over, and for the first time Casey didn't mind the keener comment.

* * *

Derek was chilling in his chair watching TV when the doorbell rang. He got up to answer it and saw that it was Emily. "Emily hey, Casey's not back yet from whatever extracurricular lameness she's doing right now." Derek said as he let Emily in.

"Oh well, mind if I wait?" She asked.

"Yeah suit yourself." Derek replied as he headed back towards his recliner.

"And actually I think she's out with Truman right now, not some extracurricular." Emily stated, as she sat down at the couch.

This peaked Derek's interest, but he didn't show it. _I don't understand what she sees in that jerk. He's such an asshole._ Derek thought to himself as he switched through the TV channels. Derek and Casey have developed some sort of friendship over the last few months, but ever since she started seeing Truman a few weeks ago, Derek's possessive older brother/jealous non-boyfriend side threatened to come out so instead he tried giving Casey the cold shoulder and taking their friendship down a notch.

"Derek what do you think of Truman?" Emily asked him, interrupting his thoughts.

"I don't think of Truman, ever." Derek replied.

"Well what do you think of Casey dating Truman?" Emily asked again.

"I think of that even less." Derek lied.

"So you think that she should stop dating him too?" Emily questioned.

 _I think she should have never started dating him in the first place._ Derek thought, but instead he replied with, "Who am I to stop Casey from dating some jerk?"

"Um her brother?" Emily said as if it were obvious.

" **Step-** brother. And it's not like she would listen to me anyways." Derek replied.

"Then get her to listen. You got her to listen by outing Scott to her. And she was really thankful for that! Why can't you do the same thing with Truman, he's just as bad as Scott." Emily continued.

"I was able to out Scott because I had proof. I have no proof or anything on Truman to out him, and I warned her about Max too and she didn't listen to me so what makes you think that she will this time?" Derek asked.

"So you're just going to sit back and wait until it's too late and he hurts Casey?" Emily asked accusingly.

"If he hurts her I'll kill him." Derek replied trying to sound sarcastic, but Emily could sense the seriousness behind his comment.

"You know she's going to some party with him tomorrow in Toronto. And she's not planning to tell Nora." Emily told him.

"You're going with her right?" Derek asked quickly.

"Nope, dinner plans with the family. So I guess she's going alone." Emily said with a sigh.

"Like hell she is!" Derek replied loudly, surprising himself. But Emily smiled at his response. "Nora would kill her if she found out about it." Derek continued.

"I know, but Casey is set on going. And I don't think she should go, I don't have a good feeling about it." Emily admitted.

"Me neither." Derek whispered to himself quietly, but Emily heard him.

"Hey Ems! Hey Jerk." Casey said as she walked in through the front door.

"About time." Derek grumbled quietly to himself, and yet again Emily heard him and smiled.

"Hey Casey, alright let's go I need help with my homework." Emily said as she led the way up the stairs to Casey's room.

* * *

Casey stood awkwardly at the party as she searched the crowd for Truman. She thought he had wanted her here; she was excited to meet all of his private school friends and get to know more about him. But instead he had ditched her before even giving her a proper hello, leaving her to talk to nobody except for the chaperon parent, but even he ended up ditching her so that he could continue to chaperon the party. Casey continued to search the crowd for Truman or anyone she might know, but the only person she could see was Derek dancing with some blonde. Her mother had somehow found out about Toronto and the only way she was willing to let her go was if she brought Derek with her as a chaperon. Even though she had protested about him coming as her chaperon, she was still sort of glad he was here. Seeing as the night wasn't going as well as she had hoped, at least she had Derek to take her home earlier. She stood there watching Derek with his bimbo blond and felt herself start to get jealous but she let the thought pass by quickly. Casey turned around and continued to look for her boyfriend. "Hey have you seen Truman?" Casey asked the host of the party.

"Wasn't he with you?" The guy replied

"Pretty sure he wasn't." Casey said sadly.

"Then he's with that other girl." The guy answered as he nodded towards the other side of the room.

"Vicky?" Casey sounded surprised. _Why would he be with Vicky?_ Casey crossed the room as she headed to look for Truman. _There he is!_ Casey thought as she saw Truman talking to someone that she couldn't see. She started walking towards them and then froze in her tracks, as she saw that the person that Truman was talking to was Vicky, only he wasn't talking to her anymore. Instead, he had his arms wrapped around her and his tongue down her throat. _No. No. Vicky? Truman? But he's my- how could he…_ Casey's head was spinning as she backed away until her back hit a wall and she could feel the tears start to form. Wanting to avoid a public meltdown Casey goes to look for Derek, trying to get out of there as soon as possible.

"Derek I need to leave now." Casey said as she tapped on Derek's shoulder, trying to hold her tears in.

"Can't talk, dancing." Derek replied as he tried to ignore Casey.

"Derek lets go please." Casey pleaded with a shaky voice that made Derek turn around quickly. He saw the tears in her eyes threatening to escape and pulled her aside, putting his hands on her shoulders as he looked at her with concern. "Are you okay?" He asked. Casey shook her head as she let the tears escape down her face. "What happened Case?" Derek asked with worry in his voice.

"I just saw Truman and Vicky and they were...they were…" Casey couldn't find the strength to finish her sentence but Derek feared that he already knew what she was trying to say.

"What did he do Casey?" Derek asked with concern. Casey couldn't find the words to speak so she took Derek and turned him towards the direction of Truman and Vicky, where they were still making out. _That son of a bitch!_ Derek thought to himself before turning to Casey. "Go wait in the car." He told her as he handed her the keys. As soon as she left Derek stormed over to Truman and Vicky. "Hey Truman!" Derek said loudly before punching Truman in the face as soon as he broke away from Vicky and looked up. He wanted to keep punching him but he knew that Casey would never forgive him if he got arrested for assault.

"What the hell man?!" Truman yelled as he grabbed his now bloody nose.

"That was for Casey, you asshole." Derek replied coldly.

"What did I do to Casey?" Truman asked.

Derek gave him a pointed look as he looked over at Vicky. "Dude she saw you." Derek replied.

"Dude you're reading this all wrong." Truman exclaimed, trying to defend himself as he wiped away at his bloody nose.

"First of all I don't read anything on weekends and second, no one should treat Casey that way. She deserves much better than a scumbag like you." Derek replied getting mad again.

"Since when are you so protective of Casey?" Vicky finally spoke up.

"Since now. Find your own way home I'm taking Casey home now." Derek told Vicky as he turned around to leave.

"I want to talk to her first. She doesn't need her brother looking out for her, she can decide on her own if she wants to forgive me or not, and with my charm she won't be able to resist." Truman said in a cocky tone.

That was the final straw for Derek and before Truman even had the chance to blink Derek took two more punches at him causing Truman to stumble backwards and onto the floor. " **Step-** brother. Stay the hell away from Casey!" Derek barked out in an angry tone before storming out and heading towards his car. He jumped in the car and looked over at Casey who was staring out her window not saying a word. He sighed and started the car then pulled out of the driveway and headed home. It was a two hour drive home, Derek had already driven for an hour and Casey still hadn't said anything or shed a single tear. He kept glancing over at her. _No more tears? Should I be worried or relieved?_ Derek thought to himself.

"Don't. Don't say it." Casey finally said in a low whisper.

"Don't say what?" Derek asked confused.

"I told you so. Don't say it Derek because I know you want to and I am so sick and tired of you always proving me wrong especially when it comes to my dating life!" Casey finally looked up at him as she answered him, her voice starting to rise as she began to cry again.

Derek was surprised at Casey's random yet predictable outburst. _Leave it to Casey to blame me for her boyfriend cheating on her._ Derek thought with a sigh as he pulled over on the side of the road and turned the engine off before turning to look at Casey. "Casey I won't say I told you so because as much as I hate the guy and as much as I love proving you wrong, this time I wish that I **was** wrong and that Truman didn't turn out to be the scumbag that I had always said he was. Believe it or not it **kills** me to see you get hurt by stupid assholes like him." Derek told her, his voice firm as he gently rested his hand on her arm.

Casey looked up at him, surprised at his reply and touched by his words. She looked down to where his hand was on her arm and gasped. "Derek what happened to your hand?" She asked as she inspected his bruised up knuckles. Instead of replying Derek pulled back his hand and reached for the keys to start the car again, but Casey pulled his hand back to hers. "Derek, what happened?" She asked again gently.

"I guess my hand doesn't like seeing you get hurt by stupid assholes either." Derek attempted a lame joke.

Casey's eyes grew wide as she realized what he was saying. _Did he seriously beat up Truman for me? But why?_ "Derek, did you...?" Casey started but was interrupted by Derek.

"Don't worry your precious boyfriend will be fine, a black eye and bruised up lip will go good with his bruised up ego." Derek snapped suddenly, thinking Casey was about to get mad at him for being violent. But instead she surprised him.

"Ex boyfriend." Casey corrected him quietly as she looked up into his brown eyes. Before Derek could react and before Casey could talk herself out of it, she leaned over and roughly crashed her lips onto his. Derek's eyes grew wide as she kissed him, but before his mind could protest he found himself giving in to the kiss and grabbing on to the back of her neck to pull her closer. Casey unbuckled her seat belt without pulling away, then wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in even closer. After what seemed like an hour but in reality was only five minutes, Casey pulled away slowly and looked down as she started to blush. "I'm sorry..." She apologized quietly. _Why the hell did I just do that? I'm supposed to be heartbroken about being cheated on by my boyfriend but instead I let my emotions get the best of me and kissed Derek. But he stood up for_ _ **me**_ _; he beat up Truman for_ _ **me.**_

Derek put his hand gently under her chin and lifted her face up to look at him. "I thought you had a rule about guys having to make the first move." Derek said with a small smile that made Casey blush even more. "For once I wish that you would have followed one of your stupid rules, because you made me miss out on a chance to kiss you first." Derek whispered, making Casey look up suddenly into his eyes as he leaned in to kiss her again. "But second isn't so bad either." He whispered in between kisses, causing her body to melt into him as she kissed him back passionately.

 _Did Derek just admit to wanting to kiss me? And he wanted to be the one to kiss me first? Damn it Casey why did you have to go and kiss him?! It would have been so much more romantic if he had kissed me first. Wait, romantic? With Derek? What the hell am I thinking?_ Casey's head started spinning as thoughts took over her mind, and she quickly pulled away from the kiss. "Derek we can't—." She started to say before Derek interrupted her by pulling her back into a kiss.

"Case, let's just enjoy the moment right now and you can have your freak out tomorrow, okay?" Derek said as he ran his thumb over her cheek. Casey nodded, unable to speak and Derek taking that as permission to continue kissed her again as he wrapped one arm around her waist and placed the other on the back of her head. _God I have waited too long for this._ Derek thought as he deepened the kiss.

Casey did just as Derek told her, she enjoyed this moment right now as she sat there making out with Derek in his car. But tomorrow she would also do just as Derek had told her, and that would be to start freaking out.

* * *

 **Authors Note: Okay so in this chapter there were a few scenes that I took out from a few episodes of the actual show and just revised them a bit. So if they seem familiar to you, that's why!**

 **P.S. Thank you so much for the reviews! Working on the next chapter already and hopefully ya'll liked this one too! Please review! Thanks(:**


	7. Authors Note

**Authors Note:**

Hey guys! So to start off I am soooo sorry that i have not updated in literally over a year! But truth is I am stuck with this story! I have the next few chapters written out but I don't feel like its my best, and I don't want to post something that I'm not confident in. I've had several readers ask me to continue but honestly I just feel like if I continue it will be just for the sake of finishing and won't have a good concept. If i get enough votes and encouragement, and ideas as to how to continue, then I will try my best!

On another note I am working on another story currently that I feel more confident in, and would love to post a few chapters here in the next few weeks. As for this story, I will TRY to come up with something to continue it, but as far as now, I will be putting it on hold. I hope y'all will enjoy my next story though and maybe if it's good enough, after that one I can attempt to finishing this story again!


	8. Authors Note 2

Okay so I'm still not sure if i am going to continue this story or not. At least not anytime soon. Im sorry! But I am super grateful for all of my readers and followers and reviews! In the meantime I am working on another story that I plan to post soon, I just cant decide if I want to make it another Dasey, or if I want to make it an Olicity (Oliver & Felicity from Arrow) or a Rogan(Logan & Rory from Gilmore girls. Votes will be helpful! I have the story line written out and i have written it in all 3 ways, using the different characters, I just cant decide which couple I want to use. It might help if I tell you the general summary of the story. It will be an amnesia story, and there will be a time gap between the two main characters after a misunderstanding and a falling out.

Thanks again guys!


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